Butterflies and Hurricanes
by SeasonsInReverse
Summary: FS inside. Bella Swan and Alice Brandon are not what people consider 'normal'. Living in constant fear of being discovered and only having eachother to trust of course having a pale, inhumanly beautiful family move to town would set anyone on edge.E/B A/J ON HIATUS
1. Preface

Twilight Fanfic.

**Butterflies and Hurricanes**

~SeasonsInReverse

DISCLAIMER: I definately do not own the Twilight series or it's characters. the only thing i own is this storyline and any characters i may invent for this story :)

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Synopsis

_Bella Swan and Alice Brandon are not what many people would call 'normal'. They never have been and never will be. Always hiding and living in fear of being discovered what will the girls do when a family of pale, mysterious and inhumanly beautiful people moves to the small town of Forks? This family could be the very thing the girls have feared, blowing their 'human' charade wide open; or the very thing they have been looking for…_

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Preface

**Bella:**

_I ran, speeding through the deserted corridors of Forks High, my heart hammering in my ears and my mind working furiously overtime. I knew he was following me, keeping pace with me as though I were taking a leisurely stroll. It was infuriating. I willed my legs to run faster and for my heart to slow, for surely he would hear me._

_Out of nowhere, an icy white hand shot out and latched onto my wrist; my bare, ungloved and uncovered skin._

Shit_. This was bad._

**Alice:**

_Of course I saw her run, even before it actually happened. I couldn't warn her though, how could I? How could I warn her without having to explain to the swarm of curious faces surrounding us that I _saw_ in my _head_ an inhumanly beautiful being chasing my sister in all ways but blood? I couldn't. As the bell rang for the end of lunch and I waved away the curious inquiries from our 'friends' I managed to choke out "Run. Now" she knew I'd seen something and she'd seen the raw panic on my face as I uttered those words._

_She fled without another word._

_He followed, as if he heard and understood me from the other side of the cafeteria._

Shit_. This was bad._


	2. We are nowhere and it's now

**A/N: Thank you to: **twilightluvr001 Broken Soup orderofphoniex and imawesome34 **for reviewing, alerting and favourite-ing my story! I honestly take no offence to constructive criticism and would actually like to have your thoughts on each chapter etc…**

**I really appreciate your support. **

**Now, on with the story :)**

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Chapter 2

***~Bella~***

Forks. We were on our way to a small town named after an eating utensil.

Why? It's nobody's fault to be perfectly honest but I cannot help but feel guilty. If I weren't so…_different _it wouldn't have come to this. If it weren't for the fact that wearing elbow length leather gloves in Phoenix, (where the sun is blistering and the heat is high) is considered decidedly _odd_, we wouldn't be on this plane escaping said blistering sun.

'_We' _being Mary Alice Brandon and myself, Isabella Marie Swan.

She is my sister in all ways but blood. We are kindred spirits and we look out for one another.

Both pale without the excuse of red hair or lack of sun in this valley of non existent clouds, cold weather and the constant presence of the sun with it's accompanying heat, we were considered freaks – even without the extra abnormal baggage that came with us.

Alice hasn't always lived with us. I was born an only child and I've always lived with my mother in Phoenix, Arizona since I can remember. Renee left Charlie in Forks, Washington and took me with her, never looked back. I don't think badly of her though, she just wanted out.

I was always different from my peers but only recently has the change been so drastic. I've always been pale, dark haired, dark eyed, slender and soft but not at all muscular, always abhorred athletics and tolerated dance. It wasn't until I was 11 years old and puberty was on the horizon did I learn how truly different I was from everyone else.

I learned this because on my 11th birthday, I put my only and best friend, Matt into a three week coma.

And all I did was touch him with my bare hands.

It didn't cost my mind too much trouble to realize that it was my fault. After that incident a noticeable change occurred in me. I had a darkness about me and it was entirely subconscious. Something about me made everyone else want to keep their distance. I couldn't really blame them, I was dangerous.

When Matt woke up he didn't really understand what had happened but I think he knew I was somehow to blame. He avoided me like the plague and so the avoidance of human contact and the wearing of elbow length gloves began.

It was just shy of a year when Alice bounded along. I was sat alone (naturally) in a deserted park down the road from my house when along she came, beaming at me like we had known each other our entire lives.

"Hi! I'm Mary Alice Brandon," said she "we're going to be the best of friends and closest of sisters."

She seemed so confidant and positive of this fact.

I believed her.

She wasn't repelled by me. She didn't attempt to touch me either which I appreciated; it was as if she knew what would happen if she did.

_Impossible._ I inwardly snorted. _She couldn't know._

She could and she did.

Alice and I were the same age yet she was approximately 4 inches shorter than me. She was small, thin and pixie-like with jet black hair that looked as if it had been cut deliberately short without much care. She had big dark eyes not unlike my own except that hers couldn't seem to decide whether or not to be green or brown. She was wearing a plain grey tunic dress with thin black slippers – nothing else.

As we made the walk from the park to Renee's house Alice took my gloved hand in her own little bare one. I didn't pull away as I would have with anyone else and we continued on in comfortable silence – hers, happy and all knowing, mine, a puzzling and slightly amused.

Renee knew of my _ability_ as she put it so to speak. She also knew that with said ability came my avoidance of the human race therefore her facial expression was evidently one of confusion as to why I came home hand in gloved hand with one of those avoided humans. That confusion turned to delighted curiosity and then back to confusion as she took in Alice's attire. All of this would be fairly amusing to me on any other day however I was also in a state of bemusement and therefore looked at Alice expectantly for an explanation.

Right on Cue Alice sat down onto the sofa,(we followed suit) opened her mouth and began her story.

By the time she had finished, both Renee and I were quivering in rage and planning multiple murders.

Sweet Mary Alice Brandon could see the future.

Sweet Mary Alice Brandon was abandoned by her family and left in a Mental Institute.

Sweet Mary Alice Brandon was about to get adopted by us.

By the huge and happy grin that then dominated her small face - she knew it too.

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**A/N: Please review and express your thoughts on this chapter and story :)**


	3. Creature fear

**A/N: Thanks again for all the reviews, favouriting and story alerting! Nothing encourages more chapters than feedback ;)**

Disclaimer: It could not be more obvious that I do not own the twilight series or the characters. I may include references to other works and if I do – I do not own them either :)

**Onwards!

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Chapter 3

***~Alice~***

The circumstances in which we came to be on this plane to a tiny town called Forks were by no means amusing… but still, I laughed.

In all honesty it was a slightly hysterical laugh and only partially one of mirth.

It did escalate into a true giggle of amusement after watching Bella's facial expression change to the course and subject of the couple's conversation directly behind us.

Of course, she then sent a playful glare my way to which I answered with an exaggerated (and clearly false) look of innocence.

She huffed; her disgusted expression returned, this time aimed again to the couple behind us, then glowered silently out the plane window.

I sighed. _'Always blaming herself that one'_ I thought dejectedly and I too stared out the window and to the scenery below.

It was not her fault this time. They initiated the contact, not her. However, that was a fact that Bella seemed oblivious of; now 15 years old and in her mind nearing adulthood, she was determined to blame herself for sending us to 'exile' in Forks as she put it.

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It may sound odd but, I've always _seen_ Bella. As long as I've remembered my visions, they've always been accompanied by her. I became so used to it I could never think of one without the other.

This alarmed my parents. As I was talking about a girl named Bella before I talked about my visions, they assumed I had an imaginary friend. She was imaginary because there definitely was not a single girl named Isabella Swan in the whole of Biloxi, Mississippi.

Then there were the visions. I really could not find anything wrong with seeing what I saw, although at the time I was of the mind that _everyone_ saw what I saw. I was 5 years old and they were not particularly detailed – merely a strong feeling, being able to foretell the weather. I was young and impressionable, my mother expressed that it was just a quirk of children – it would pass. The concern was waved away for a time and when I occasionally advised mother or father to take an umbrella with them I was met with only bemused unease.

It all changed when I was 7 years old.

Mother had just given birth to my new baby sister, Cynthia.

My visions had steadily been getting more detailed and easier for my childlike mind to understand. Of this my parents were well aware, and very disturbed by. I told them everything, of Bella, the weather and of other future events – all of which came to pass. They all feared me. Of this I was partially unaware, as I grew up I knew no one else could see what I saw but I was young and I was happy, always happy.

I don't remember much of the incident; I can thank the _'hospital'_ for _that_. Vaguely I remember sitting in my room playing and watching over Cynthia. Then _WHAM. _

_Vision; A ball, a boy, a car_.

I screamed and yelled of what I saw to my father in pure undiluted panic.

But it was too late. We heard the screech and after a few moments the screams. The whole street had heard me yell what I saw, and they all blamed the future seeing child freak for what happened. I did not understand.

That evening something was different. My mother came into my bedroom and told me to pack clothes and my treasured items, she told me we were going on holiday; Father and she did not have a suitcase packed.

I did not understand.

We all got into the car and drove a long way to an archaic looking building that looked like a gothic church.

The car stopped, mother and father got out and unpacked my luggage.

I did not understand.

Neither of my parents touched or looked at me the entire walk up to the intimidating building. Mother was muttering something about spawning a child of Satan.

I did not understand.

Inside was cold, dark and uninviting with a menacing white haired man stood waiting for us. He looked down at my quivering form dispassionately.

They abandoned me there that night without a backward glance, their own flesh and blood. The unfriendly man took me and my luggage to a small room into which a nurse already sat, followed by absolute nothingness.

For three years after that night, I understood.

The building was not a _'hospital'_; it was an institute as archaic and barbaric as Bedlam.

They shaved my head and drugged me into incoherence but yet, I saw her.

I saw her pale heart-shaped face and her large brown doe like eyes.

I saw her future – with me in it. I saw her grow up as I did and I saw her get shunned by her peers.

Most importantly, I saw what her touch could do.

I had get out of there.

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I had only one ally at this Bedlam; a doctor named Nicholas. He spoke to me as you would a normal person, or child. He did not think me crazy and honestly believed my visions were for real. I liked him.

By the time I was 10 we were companions in a way. He knew I wasn't lying, he also knew that I knew there was something different about him.

Nicholas was a strange man.

He was chalky pale and had golden eyes. He was strawberry blonde and beautiful in an ethereal, inhuman way.

Nevertheless I had to escape this hellhole. I had to find Bella. I already loved her as a sister. However, even at the young age of 10 I knew escape to be unlikely.

Perhaps he knew what I wanted, or maybe he wanted me out of there also, I never knew but one day Nicholas presented an offer I couldn't refuse – a way out.

Via the small bathroom window as planned I made my escape clad only in my grey tunic dress, black slippers and a silver heart shaped locket containing a single picture of myself and Cynthia hanging around my neck.

Nicholas was waiting at the bottom for me in his car; he'd temporarily disabled the alarms for my getaway so no security guards or doctors came running after us for my capture.

He drove smoothly away and I began Bella hunting.

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Just under two years later, I found her. Phoenix, Arizona, valley of the blistering sun and heat.

"Dear lord, no wonder the poor girl gets funny looks for wearing gloves." Nicholas remarked dryly.

With my visions acting as a guide Nicholas had driven from place to sunny place in my search for my future surrogate sister. The sunnier the place, the more uncomfortable he became. I had absolutely no idea why, but he didn't offer an explanation so I didn't ask. It was an unspoken agreement between us, _'_**ask me no questions and I'll tell you no lies'**. Whatever the phrase, it worked for us.

When at last I found the area she lived in, Nicholas and I said our sad goodbyes, parted ways and I held the hope that I'd see him again someday. I began walking around the neighbourhood, exploring my new surroundings.

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She was sat alone on a bench in a deserted children's play park, ivory elbow length gloves that were not dissimilar a shade to her skin tone. She wore a sky blue turtleneck of light fabric and white linen trousers tucked into knee high flat boots. Her long dark hair was down and in the slight evening breeze ruffling about her face. Indeed, the only skin showing on her entire person was her face which in the absence of company bore an expression of such sadness, hurt and loneliness I was up and bounding over to where she sat ready to eradicate it before I was entirely certain of what I was doing.

She looked up, startled at my approach then confused and slightly alarmed to find me beaming in her face, (I suppose I _can_ be intimidating in my enthusiasm…) so obvious was her alarm I couldn't help but giggle a little bit.

"Hi! I'm Mary Alice Brandon; we're going to be the best of friends and closest of sisters." I was confidant she'd understand.

She did.

"Bella Swan." was her dazed and somewhat amused reply.

As we made our way to her mothers' house I slipped my hand into her gloved one, she didn't recoil. All was well.

I knew Renee was completely fine and supportive of Bella's gift, (other than the occasional despairing weep over not being able to touch her own daughter) so I was not overly concerned of her reaction to mine. I liked Bella's mother, she had a very childlike look of the world and an open mind that was greatly appreciated by Bella and myself.

The outcome of this meeting I had been seeing since I could remember was better than I could have possibly imagined.

I, Mary Alice Brandon Swan could see the future.

She, Isabella Marie Swan could not touch another human being.

We were sisters, we were together and we were both freaks of nature.

Awesome.

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**A/N: Please review and express your thoughts on this chapter and story, really let me know what you think! :) **


	4. Close your eyes to see

**A/N: I'm so sorry this chapter wasn't up sooner, i had trouble uploading the file onto ff :/ anywho it's here now that's all that matters. Thankye to all who have reviewed, favourited and put this story on alert - it all makes me very giddy "blushes* **

**please continue, nothing makes me happier ;)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Twilight series or it's characters and never will :)  
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Chapter 4

***~Bella~***

"Oh thank _god,_" I moaned in relief as it was announced that the plane was landing. "Shut up Alice." I added after hearing her snicker at my obvious discomfort.

I was at my wits end; the amount of self restraint it took to stop myself from turning around and giving the revolting couple behind us a piece of my mind…

To distract myself I took a good look at the occupants in the plane with whom I'd been ignoring the majority of the flight; mostly the middle aged and the elderly. There were a few younger couples and even fewer families, _'probably visiting their families for the Christmas holidays' _I thought.

Suddenly an action directly opposite where Alice and I were situated caught my eye; As the plane was descending a young boy, no older than 8 was being lightly shaken from his slumber by what could only be his mother. He mumbled something unintelligible and attempted to burrow deeper into his pillow, her shoulder. She chuckled, smoothed his hair and gave him an affectionate kiss on his lightly tanned forehead.

My breath caught in my throat and my jaw clenched.

I tore my gaze away from the pair and glared at my lap, silently fuming to myself.

They made it seem so natural and unconscious, if only…

'_Don't go there Bella.'_

I sighed and looked outside the plane window again.

30 minutes later the plane had landed, Alice and I were leaving the plane and heading off to locate our luggage.

Surrounded by bustling crowds of people constantly touching one another - be it intentional or by accident, I was becoming claustrophobic, overwhelmed and finding it difficult to breathe evenly. I briefly closed my eyes, took a deep breath and soldiered onwards; Alice gave my glove clad forearm a small reassuring squeeze.

We found our luggage and headed outside to find Charlie stood in front of his car, the police cruiser waiting for us. Alice wasted no time in bounding over to him, dropping her suitcases and giving him a full blown hug around his midsection (it was the highest she could reach).

"Hi Dad," Alice squealed happily.

"Hey girls, flight alright?" Charlie asked giving me an awkward one armed hug after Alice released him.

"Hey, yeah it was fine. How long have you been waiting out here?" I answered walking towards the trunk.

"Not long, here let me help you with those." He muttered, relieving Alice of her luggage and depositing it next to mine in the trunk.

We were about to get into the car when my eyes were assaulted with the image of the same disgusting couple from the plane getting into a taxi in front of Charlie's cruiser, after they gave each other a passionate kiss.

'_This has got to be some kind of cruel cosmic joke.'_

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***~Alice~***

After the extremely passionate public display of affection Bella was unfortunate enough to witness, each of us got into the car, with Charlie sending both sympathetic and helpless looks towards her which she certainly would not appreciate. Bella hates being pitied. I felt a little guilty for not giving Bella a head's up, it was my job in a way but it was a snap decision I didn't see in time.

The drive to Forks was mostly spent in comfortable silence. The feeble attempt Charlie made at conversation went something along the line of this:

"So, the weather seems to be behaving itself so far"

"What's it usually like?"

"Well, wet." It was raining right now.

"Oh…"

The poor guy gave up after that. Charlie most certainly not a man of many words but Bella and I didn't mind, at least it wasn't particularly awkward.

Bella and I sat at the back of the cruiser behind the safety bars, she found this fairly amusing, and we each stared out the window watching the scenery flash by.

"It's so _green_." Bella muttered quietly to herself and I smiled.

She did have a point. It _was_ green, _extremely_ green. To people such as ourselves who are used to the browns and yellows of the desert, Forks was an alien planet.

I sighed quietly to myself. _'Where's the sun?'_ I thought glumly as I looked towards the grey overcast sky.

As we began driving down the road leading to Charlie's, no, _our_ house I murmured to Bella, "Charlie's got us a truck to drive around in and he thinks it'll be a surprise." She nodded in understanding.

Everything was as I remembered it to be (except for the beast parked in the driveway). As we got out and retrieved our suitcases Bella looked from the faded red truck to Charlie questionably.

"Who's is that Dad?" she asked motioning to the Chevy.

"Yours and Alice's. Consider it a homecoming present." He answered with a small smile.

"It's for us?" Bella and I asked in synchronisation with very _surprised_ looks on our faces.

He nodded looking slightly pleased with himself, then was tackled into a hug by me and received a warm, thankful pat on the back from Bella.

_Never a hug from Bella._

Charlie blushed, cleared his throat awkwardly and began to look uncomfortable so I let him go and settled for sending him a huge happy grin instead.

Carrying our stuff inside we each went to our separate bedrooms we used on our past summer visits. _'Now it's more permanent.'_

Bella's bedroom overlooked the front garden and my bedroom the back, each side had a cluster of very _green_ trees making the view seem more eerie and magical.

The evening was a quiet affair, spent mostly unpacking and getting acquainted with our surroundings. Bella made dinner after managing to convince a dubious Charlie that she was _not_ her mothers' daughter in area's concerning the kitchen. Renee liked to experiment and wasn't always successful, it seemed as though Charlie had been on the receiving end of a few cooking experiments gone awry.

After dinner Charlie started edging towards the sitting room where the TV was so Bella and I excused ourselves and headed upstairs. Before we made it to the top of the stairs however, Charlie called up to us with his head poking out the doorframe,

"Oh, by the way I've registered you both for Forks high school – you start tomorrow, it's fairly easy to find."

"'Kay, thanks Dad!" I called at the same time that Bella muttered,

"_Super!_" Sarcastically under her breath.

"Come on Bells, it wont be that bad" I tried to reassure her.

Her response was a dark look and a mumbled "'Night' over her shoulder as she retreated to her room.

I sighed, then after brushing my teeth I too went to bed feeling reasonably content.

My dreams that night were filled with pale skin, golden eyes and eager, hormonal teenagers.

Tomorrow should be interesting…

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**A/N: whatcha think? you know the drill, please review, give me your thoughts etc...**

**The next chapter may not be up for a couple of days - school starts tomorrow...But fear not! it is coming :D**


	5. You won't know

**A/N: Thank you all so much for reviewing, favouriting and alerting! i'm sorry it took a while but with school and all it's difficult. I'm probably only going to be able to update once a week but chances are they'll be long chapters like this one :)**

**enjoy!**

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Butterflies and Hurricanes

- ~SeasonsInReverse

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Chapter 5

*~Bella~*

"BEEP, BEEP, BEEP!"

Ugh.

"BEEP, BEEP, BEEP!"

Ugh.

"BEEP, BEEP, BE-"SMASH! I threw the annoying device across the room and with that almighty sound signalled the fact I'd broken another alarm clock.

"Bellaaaaa!" enter the annoying human alarm clock…

"Good morning! Rise and shine!" Alice sang as she came bounding into my bedroom and dancing over to the window.

"It's a new town, a new day and a new school! Up, up, up!" she tore open the curtains and peeled off the bed covers, the flimsy light attacking my sleepy eyes.

I groaned and tried to bury my head into the pillow. It was a futile effort. Alice, with her hands safely covered in the recently removed duvet, grabbed my ankles and pulled my body towards the end of the bed effectively ruining any and all efforts of remaining in bed.

I sighed, "Okay Alice I'm up just, let me have a shower and you can have your fashionable way with me" She was unnaturally excited at the opportunity to practically dress me.

I rubbed my eyes wearily, attempting to dislodge the sleepy dust there, got up and padded over to the bathroom with my bag of necessities.

--

Once I'd scrubbed my body clean and washed my hair with my favourite shampoo, I shuffled back to my room wrapped in a towel to find Alice waiting with clothes laid out on the bed, armed with a hairdryer and hairbrush.

Now wide awake, I actually noticed what she was wearing; dark blue skinny jeans tucked into black boots, white long sleeved top and a grey cardigan. Nice.

I nodded at her in approval and started to put on what she'd laid out for me; artificially faded blue skinny jeans, white long sleeved top with a plain black one to wear over the top and she'd laid out my elbow length black leather gloves.

Foreseeing my question about the very 'Bella-like' outfit she answered, "You would have refused to wear any other colour today. The tantrum would have been epic. Trust me, I saw it." She tapped her temple and nodded knowingly.

Then she continued, "Although I don't see why you want to dress in such dark colours today, it's not going to make a positive impression."

"I don't want to make a positive impression," I mumbled, "I want to endure this exile in relative tranquillity."

She tsked at me, sat me down in front of her, began drying and brushing my hair and said no more on the matter.

--

After getting dressed and ready, we headed downstairs for breakfast to find that Charlie had already left for work. We put some pop tarts in the toaster and waited it comfortable silence.

"Do you see anything life altering happening today?" I asked her, only half joking.

"I think so." She said, furrowing her brows.

"Anything we should worry about?" I raised my eyebrows in question.

She looked at me, "I don't know."

"Huh? What do you mean?" I was completely lost.

"Exactly that, I don't know. I can't see!" she huffed frustrated, "It's all so foggy and unclear, I hate not being able to see!"

I rubbed her shoulders soothingly just as our breakfast popped out of the toaster.

"Don't worry, we'll take it as it comes, we always do." I murmured trying to reassure her. It must be an odd experience for her, she's always been aware of what's coming and when and not being able to see clearly was slightly worrying. _'Perhaps we depend on Alice's sight too much'_ I thought to myself as the both of us ate our food.

After eating, we ran upstairs to clean our teeth. We came downstairs again and I put on a pair of knee high black boots on. I grabbed the car keys off the hook and headed out the door, shoulder bag and jacket in hand.

--

Charlie was right, the school was not hard to find. The old truck we drove had a loud rumbling engine and didn't move over 55mph, a fact that Alice found particularly irritating. The truck crawled into Forks High School parking lot about 15 minutes before classes started. I drove around the lot until I found a parking space and cut the engine. The truck's roar had attracted attention and some of the students who had arrived early stared openly as we climbed out of the vehicle, Brilliant.

"Office?" I asked Alice, she pointed to the building to my left and we made our way towards it.

We entered the office and I was attacked with a blast of warm air. I looked around at my surroundings and blanched slightly, there were plants everywhere.

"Jesus, you'd think they'd see enough of the bloody plants outside." I muttered to Alice and she giggled slightly, her eyes twinkling.

"Hi there!" She chirped to the redhead behind the front desk – 'Mrs Cope' her name tag read.

"Hello," she greeted looking at us inquisitively.

"We're new." I stated plainly.

She stared at me, and then quickly looked away at my raised eyebrow choosing instead to stare at Alice's friendly face. She plastered a welcoming smile on her face and her eyes lit with awareness. Our reputation preceded us it seemed.

"Oh, yes, Isabella and Alice Swan, we've been expecting you," she babbled. "Here are your schedules, map and slip for your teachers to sign. Please hand it back in at the end of the day." She smiled again and wished us a good first day. We thanked her and escaped the stuffy room.

We both looked at our schedules; Alice and I had most of our classes together except for trig, Spanish and Biology.

"Let the torture commence!" I chirped with false enthusiasm.

_'I hate my life right now.'_

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*~Alice~*

I laughed at her sarcasm and we trudged to our first class, English. We hadn't attracted many stares as of yet, people were just arriving and hadn't noticed the two Swan sister's arrival.

We made it to the classroom without being accosted. Bella tripped over the doorframe and I caught her before she could fall on her face, she cursed under her breath and sighed angrily at her clumsiness, I smiled at her.

We walked towards the teacher's desk at the front of the room, his name was Mr Mason. All eyes were now on us, their stares boring holes in the side of our heads. I could tell Bella was getting annoyed so I took hold of her gloved hand in my be-mitten one and gave it a reassuring squeeze. Bella shoved her slip in his face, "You need to sign this" she said plainly. He frowned at her and opened his mouth to speak before I interrupted.

I handed him my slip, more smoothly than Bella and said sweetly, "Mine too please." I gave her a warning glare.

She sighed quietly then sent him a 'shy' smile and looked at him with her big brown eyes. I smothered a laugh as I saw the man become completely softened by the combined forces of our eyes. _'Poor guy'._

"Um, yes, well. You two may sit over there, at the back" He managed to mutter before turning his back on us and reshuffled his papers. I giggled, pranced across the room to my seat and watched Bella follow me with an amused half grin on her face. Even though Bella and I were sat at the back of the classroom, somehow the students managed to stare at us the entire lesson. The reading list we received had books we had already read multiple times and the course content was easy. By the end of the class Bella's amusement had vanished and she was glowering at the floor in front of her desk. The Bell rang and we began to pack our stuff up, Bella accidentally knocked her book onto the floor but before she could retrieve it a boy with black hair and skin problems had picked it up and was handing it to her. He looked at her with eager eyes and was giving her a very friendly smile; he seemed like the over helpful chess club type.

"Hey, my name's Eric Yorke. You're Isabella and Alice Swan, right?" Everyone within a 3 seat radius turned to stare at us.

"Just Bella." Bella replied automatically.

"Do you need help getting to your next class?" He asked looking at just Bella. I tried my hardest not to laugh. _'Definitely over helpful'_.

"We have maps."

"What is your next lesson?" He wasn't taking the hint.

Bella just stared at him.

"Government with Jefferson." I supplied, miraculously keeping an even voice and a straight face. Bella pinched my leg in retaliation.

"Oh! I'm going that way anyway, I'll walk with you." He cried enthusiastically.

"Marvellous." Bella spoke without emotion. Eric was glowing.

I think I just busted a rib.

The walk to Government was happy for Eric, Annoying for Bella and hilarious for me.

"So you girls came from Phoenix right? It doesn't rain often there does it?" he was persistent in conversing with Bella and wasn't giving up easily, I had a suspicion other people were eavesdropping on the conversation.

"Three or four times a year." She didn't want to be reminded of home right now.

"Wow. What's that like?" he asked.

"Sunny."

"You don't look very tan," he observed.

"Our mother's part albino," he studied her closely. Bella sighed, I grinned. _'Oh Bella, it looks like clouds and sarcasm do not mix'_ I inwardly chuckled.

Eric walked us right to the door, even though the building and door were clearly marked.

Second lesson passed just as the first had, except Jeff made us introduce ourselves. Bella sent him a dark look before mechanically saying, "Hi, my name is Bella Swan and I'm from Arizona." To which I would grin and chirp,

"Hi! I'm Alice Swan, Bella and I both moved from Arizona."

I did not have third and fourth lesson with Bella, so we parted ways and headed to our separate classes.

--

I was noticing a pattern forming. There would always be one student braver than the others and would come up to either myself or Bella and introduce themselves, ask questions etc. I tried to be diplomatic but a lot was improvised, I don't know about Bella but, knowing her she probably only answered the questions she wanted to.

--

By the time I escaped fourth period and the questions of my curious peers, I knew Bella would already be in the cafeteria so I made my way there. I walked in and found where Bella was sat, surrounded by a group of hormone driven, chattering and gossiping teenagers. She was glaring at her lunch tray with an impressive scowl on her face. I laughed and danced over to her, her head snapped up and she narrowed her eyes at my mirth.

"What's eating you?" I inquired.

"She dragged me over here against my will," she claimed in a long-suffering voice, "she never stops talking," she continued, a pained expression clouding her features.

"Who doesn't?" She pointed discreetly to a girl with wild brown curly hair,

"Jasmine… or Jessica. Something beginning with J." she whispered. The scowl returned to her face when I laughed at her.

I chatted to the group at the table, trying not to alienate ourselves as Bella seemed hell-bent on doing. She clearly didn't like the attention she was garnering, having never been popular at school she was struggling; she ended up acting either overly formal or bitingly sarcastic. It was difficult, I was having a hard time and people don't irritate me as much as they do Bella.

"Bella, please tone down the cynicism and sarcasm" I pleaded quietly to her.

"Why? We're bound to become outcasts eventually, why prolong the inevitable?" She retorted.

I opened my mouth to give my own retort when my attention was diverted away from my socially inept sister.

Four impossibly beautiful people entered the cafeteria and sat down in the corner of the room, at the table furthest from the rest of the high school population. They weren't talking or looking at each other, but that wasn't what captured my attention. What did was the fact that they seemed familiar. They looked so different yet so unbelievably alike. All had pale skin, paler than all of the students, paler than Bella and I – the albinos. They also all had dark purple smudges under their eyes as if they were suffering from lack of sleep or a broken nose; although all their noses were straight, perfect like the rest of their features.

_'Why do they seem so familiar?'_ I asked myself, bewildered.

There were three males and one female. The female was blonde, statuesque with a figure like a swimsuit model; the kind of beauty that made every girl in the vicinity take a hit on her self esteem. The male she was holding hands with was big and muscled like a serious weightlifter; He would have looked ridiculously scary if it weren't for the dimples that showed when he smiled in his friendly face.

The second male had bronze hair, boyish features and a brooding expression; he was perhaps more beautiful that the former.

The last male practically took my breath away. He had honey blonde hair, was more muscled and less boyish than the red-head but not as much as the other. He looked uncomfortable and had a pained expression on his face, I felt bad for him. But my god, he was perfect.

"Who're they?" Bella's question interrupted my ogling and I had no doubt who she was referring to.

I was right, she was ogling at the beautiful people too.

Jessica looked up, although she probably knew who we were talking about too.

"They're the Cullen's" she whispered with a giggle.

At that moment, brooding-boy looked in our direction. His gaze lingered for a split second before glancing away, bored. By that time we'd all averted our eyes, embarrassed at being caught staring; Jessica was blushing and Bella looked uncomfortable.

"They don't look related." I said uncertainly.

"Oh, they're not," Jess confirmed, still whispering. "except for the two blondes, Rosalie and Jasper Hale, they're twins."

I now had a name to go with the blonde haired god.

"And the other two?" Bella asked with a little interest, odd for her.

"Emmett and Edward Cullen, Emmett's with Rosalie." Jessica replied.

"They're together. Like - together, together" she replied looking a little disgusted.

"I'm not even sure that's legal!" she still looked horrified.

"Jess, they're not actually related." A sweet and shy girl named Angela defended, "Mr and Mrs Cullen adopted them all, she can't have kids." she added sympathetically.

"That's really nice of them, to do that." Bella murmured, glancing towards the Cullen table.

"Yeah, but they live together, it's weird." Jessica declared stubbornly.

Bella raised her eyebrow and looked amused. She glanced back over at Edward, who was looking over at our table again but with interest in his expression.

Bella ducked her head again. _'Even Odder.'_

"The one with the reddish brown hair, that's Edward?" Bella clarified quietly.

"Yes, but don't waste your time. Edward doesn't date, apparently none of the girls here are good enough for him." Jess sniffed bitterly. Bella noticed this.

_'Oh dear…'_ I thought half heartedly before -

"How many times did he turn you down?" Bella asked bluntly.

I nearly busted another rib.

Jessica stared at her, stunned and affronted while I was trying desperately to pass off my laugh as a cough.

I glanced over at the Cullen table to distract myself only to see them all chuckling to themselves, Edward's mouth was pulled up in a crooked grin.

The Bell rang, signalling the end of lunch and we all left to head off to fifth lesson.

--

"We're sitting somewhere else tomorrow Alice," Bella declared grumpily, "Those pubescent children have the combined IQ of my waist size."

I let out the laugh that had been dying to escape, "Come on, it wasn't that bad."

She stared at me with disbelief.

"Angela?" I contradicted. She rolled her eyes but agreed.

"Okay, one person was decent but you cannot account for the others." She challenged. She was right, I couldn't.

--

We said our goodbyes and headed to our separate classes, Bella to Biology and I to American History. I handed my slip to the teacher, he took it and signed it with no nonsense and sent me to the only available seat in the back. As I turned to go to the available seat I froze; it was next to Jasper Hale.

As I sat down Jasper shifted uncomfortably, I felt bad. I didn't want to make him uncomfortable so I sent him an apologetic look while not really knowing what I was apologizing for. He looked shocked for a minute, before sending me a small smile and facing the front. I followed suit and class began with a comfortable silence between us.

Class was approximately 20 minutes in before a vision came slamming into my consciousness. My muscles automatically locked, my eyes glazed over and my senses left the present focussing instead on the future I was seeing.

I tried to concentrate but it was difficult, it was foggy like a lot of my visions had been recently. Suddenly I saw Bella; I saw her face contorted in horror and fear, staring at something I couldn't see. Before I could see more I felt something cold touch my arm and I was wrenched back to the present to see black eyes looking at me worriedly, they belonged to Jasper. He must have seen the panic in my eyes because he then asked me in a hushed honey coated voice, "Are you alright?"

"Y-yes, yes I'm fine." I replied while attempting to smother the growing panic, _'Bella can take care of herself, she's fine'_ I kept trying to reassure myself.

"Are you sure?" He persisted, still looking at me worriedly. I realized that the cold I felt was his hand. His skin was freezing! I nodded at him and assured him that I was fine, "I just zoned out I guess…" I gave an apologetic shrug. I looked around the room to check whether anyone else saw me zone out, they didn't and class continued as if nothing had happened.

"I'm Jasper, by the way." He murmured a few moments later with a slight southern lilt. I loved it.

"Alice." I answered with a grin. He nodded but said no more.

When the bell rang, he was up and out of his seat heading out of the door without a word. I stood there stunned for a few moments before remembering Bella and racing off to find her.

--

I found her in the corridor on her way to Gym with a baby-faced, blonde haired boy trailing alongside her chatting animatedly, of which she clearly wasn't listening at all. I smiled with relief and made my way towards her, as I got closer I noticed her facial expression; Annoyance, hurt and confusion. I deduced that the annoyance was due to the nattering male beside her, but I had no idea what caused the hurt and confusion. _'Nobody hurts my sister'_ I thought angrily. I rushed over to her, touched her arm and looked at her inquisitively. She shook her head and simply said, "Later." I nodded and we continued to the girls' locker room, leaving Blondie still talking to himself.

The coach gave us our uniforms but told us to sit out today, Bella was relieved. When asked about her covered skin, she gave Coach Clapp a note which Charlie had written explaining Bella's 'skin condition'. He didn't ask anymore questions after that, thank god. We sat on the bleachers and spoke quietly to each other, I told her about Jasper and the vision. She became very quiet when I told her about it which confused me, usually she'd joke or assure me that everything was fine and she'd be careful. She kept her eyes downcast and changed the topic, instead telling me why Blondie, (who I learnt was actually called Mike) was with her.

--

The bell rang, ending sixth period and we headed back to the office to hand our slips in. However, when we stepped inside the door someone was already speaking, quite headedly with Mrs Cope.

It was Edward Cullen.

"Are you sure there isn't anything I can switch it with? Physics? Bio-Chem?" He was asking.

"No dear, it's impossible. I'm afraid you're going to have to stick with fifth hour Biology." Mrs Cope insisted.

_'Huh? He was trying to switch? Isn't Bella in that class?'_ I glanced at Bella and saw her staring, wide eyed at his back with confusion and disbelief?

_'What on earth is going on?'_ I thought, completely baffled.

* * *

*~Bella~*

Alice left me outside of the Biology building and headed off to her class. When I got into the classroom I noticed that the only seat available was next to Edward Cullen, I began walking up towards the teacher, Mr Banner. On my way, I stepped in front of a fan, my hair blew in all directions and I impatiently shoved it out of my face. When I could finally see, I glanced at Edward again only to find his previously friendly face contorted in rage and hatred, his pitch black eyes glaring daggers at me. I was surprised, hurt and a little bit intimidated.

I shoved my slip at Mr Banner's face and asked him to sign it, more politely than in English. He sent me to the only available seat, next to gorgeous bipolar boy.

He was still glaring at me and didn't seem to be breathing, he had his hand over his nose. _'Rude'_ I inwardly scowled but outwardly wore an emotionless mask.

I refused to be intimidated by this flawless, beautiful, god of a – _'stop it Bella!'_

So I sat down without looking at him and got my books out. However, when he leaned away from me and scooted to the farthest edge of the table I couldn't help but smell my hair discreetly. It smelled of strawberries. I huffed and began taking notes on what Mr Banner was saying even though I'd already done the topic before.

He stayed in the same, stiff and angry posture all lesson; I was tempted to demand to know what the hell his problem was, but I stayed silent. _'Coward'_ I sneered at myself.

His right hand was balled into a white knuckled fist and his other seemed to be keeping him in his chair. _'Weird.'_ I used my long hair as a screen between us so I didn't have to see his beautiful and furious face. I was irrationally hurt by his behaviour and understandably confused. What had I ever done to him? Was he upset that I was staring at him at lunch? He didn't seem upset from across the cafeteria…

--

The bell rang and he was up and out the door before I could pack my books away. I stood, stunned for a few moments just staring at the door in bewilderment before remembering where I was. I packed away my books and headed for gym. Groan.

"Hey, Isabella right?" I turned to see a baby-face, blonde haired, blue eyed boy grinning at me in a way I was becoming familiar with. _'The cosmos really does hate me'_.

"Bella." I corrected for what felt like the thousandth time today.

His smile grew. "I'm Mike, Mike Newton."

"Right." I said curtly and turned to keep walking.

"So did you stab Edward Cullen with a pencil or something? I've never seen him act like that." So it _was_ me he had a problem with.

I shrugged and said, "I don't know, I never spoke to him."

"Well, his loss. If I were lucky to have sat next to you I would have at least talked to you." His eyes gave me an appreciative once over.

I felt violated.

I gave a non-comitial shrug and walked faster. He followed, chattering about things I couldn't care less about.

--

By the time Alice found me I was seriously pissed off, my expression must have told more than I wanted it to for Alice then touched my arm and gave me a concerned look. She smirked at Mike and the situation I was in, I gave her a look that clearly said 'go to hell'. She laughed and we escaped to the girls locker rooms, leaving Mike still babbling in our wake.

As we didn't have to participate today, Alice and I sat on the bleachers and talked quietly amongst ourselves.

"How did you manage to sit with a group of people you abhor, at lunch anyway?" Alice asked with amused interest.

"Jessica." I stated simply, she raised her eyebrows.

"I had to sit next to her in Trig and Spanish." I elaborated, "She invited me to sit with her at lunch, didn't actually give me a choice to be honest, in order to boost her popularity for befriending the fascinating new girls." Alice nodded in understanding.

"And Blondie?" I laughed at the nickname despite my foul mood,

"Mike? He accosted me on the way to gym, he's in my biology class." She chuckled and muttered, "Accosted" to herself with an amused shake of her head.

Alice told me about her vision and it made me think; she said I was in a biology lab, was I staring at Edward? He certainly looked frightening…

I barely heard her tell me vague encounter with Jasper but spared her a smirk, letting her know she wasn't fooling me. _'Alice has the hots for Jasper Hale'_ I snickered childishly.

--

When Gym ended Alice and I made our way to the office to return our signed slips. When we entered the stuffy little room I froze; Edward Cullen was stood, leaning over the desk and trying to persuade the flustered receptionist to switch his fifth hour biology.

I couldn't help it; I stared in absolute shock and disbelief. _'What the hell is his problem with me?'_

The door opened, a girl walked in and deposited a piece of paper before exiting; the wind blew my hair around my face and Edward Cullen's back stiffened. He slowly turned his head around until his black, menacing eyes were glaring directly into my widened ones. He stared at me for a second before turning towards Mrs Cope, who flinched when his gaze met hers and calmly said in a voice like velvet, "I see there is nothing to be done, thank you for your time" and strode out the door without a second glance.

Once we were outside again Alice let rip, "What the heck!?" she exclaimed, "What was his problem?" she was confused and hated it.

I wasn't listening. We got to our truck, climbed in and I looked up in time to see a shiny silver Volvo speed out of the parking lot.

"Do I smell?" I asked Alice suddenly.

"Pardon?" she said startled.

"Do I smell funny?" I repeated. I bent my head to the side, my hair falling over my shoulder – an indication for her to take a whiff. She looked at me strangely before complying.

"No, you smell like strawberries and flowers – why?" she asked, befuddled.

"Edward Cullen gave the impression I smelled bad." I couldn't blame her for looking at me like I had completely lost it.

"Perhaps he dislikes strawberries?" she suggested awkwardly.

I snorted and drove out of the school premises, muttering about stupid bipolar bronze haired god's the entire way home.

* * *

**A/N: like it? please please review and tell me what you think! do you prefer the longer chapters? Am i annoying you by keeping what actually happens when bella touches someone, a secret? :) all will be revealed...**


	6. One more time

**AN: Thank you all again! please keep it up ;) I know this took a week, sorry. School was hectic.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Butterflies and Hurricanes

**Disclaimer: I do not own the twilight series. End of.**

**Chapter 6**

*~Alice~*

Bella was very distracted, that much was obvious. She seemed to have totally forgotten about food shopping so I gently reminded her for I was certain she would want to eat edible food while we were living here. Bella was in her element as she stalked down the food isles; no matter the city or town, grocery shopping was always the same and it was Bella who had cooked for us all in Phoenix; I assumed she would do the same in Forks as she actually seemed to enjoy the task. I couldn't fathom why, I was lucky if the kitchen appliances remained intact when I tried to cook.

The car ride home was interesting. Bella had stopped muttering to herself enough for me to ask what the heck happened. She told me about Biology and her theory that Edward changing classes was because of her somehow. She was certainly right about one thing, it didn't make sense; how could someone suddenly take such an intense dislike for another in a split second. One thing that did set me on edge was her description of his eyes, dark angry and dangerous _'I do not like the sound of this' _thought worriedly to myself, my forehead creasing.

When we finally arrived at the house Bella and I both hurriedly unpacked the food, stuffing it in any available space in the small kitchen before rushing upstairs to my room to talk. One we were settled on my bed I began searching the future with Bella's anxious gaze glued to my face. It was clearer than it was this morning, which was odd. Of what I could see, Bella was restless about something and would not relax until lunch when unexpectedly her mood changed to shock and relief. I could only think of one reason so far that could result in such a rapid change of emotions.

Edward Cullen.

Bella was not a very emotional person. She was rational, blunt and had a sense of humour many around her failed to grasp. I often teased her about it but honestly, when you think of how the world must appear from her view – her sarcasm and cynicism seems understandable if not acceptable. She was very aware of the danger she posed to the surrounding flock of warm, living people and prided herself on her control of emotions. For someone to completely disrupt that without even speaking to her… It frightened me a little.

"Alice!" Bella's voice wrenched me back to reality, "Well?" she questioned desperately.

"It's, clearer." I hedged, besides I didn't really know what I was seeing.

Bella raised an eyebrow; _'aahh, normalcy is returning'_

"Something's going to be different tomorrow but I can't see what yet, a decision hasn't been made." I looked at her pointedly when I said this, she smiled sheepishly.

She made the decision I was waiting for – for her to actually turn up to school – I rolled my eyes before they glazed over.

"The school parking lot, sorry that's all I can give you," I smiled apologetically "we'll find out tomorrow lunch I guess, I think everything will be fine."

Bella nodded a thoughtful look on her face. She stared out of the window, into the dark green forest.

Charlie arrived home a few hours later. We had been spending the evening just relaxing with each other and Bella has just started the dinner about 20minutes before he arrived.

"Bells? Alice? Is that you?" He called, closing the front door and removing his gun belt and boots.

"No, it's two strangers you don't know cooking in your kitchen." Bella muttered sarcastically. I chuckled; she did have a point though, _'who else would it be?'_ I thought amusedly.

The evening was quiet like the previous, Charlie asked about our day, which we assured him was fine, Bella kept her sarcasm to a minimum well aware that Charlie was directing his question more at her than me.

I thought that the day would end reasonably well and we would go to bed, sleep and wake up in the morning; Bella's character ready and raring to go for another round with the kids at school.

I really should know better by now. Fate does not like Bella and I – especially Bella.

The only place Bella was comfortable not wearing her gloves was in the house, the only place she didn't have to hide who she really was and rightly so. So when Bella and I got up to go to bed and she accidentally knocked a vase of flowers someone had sent as a welcoming present off the table, Bella reflexively caught them. One of her hands had grasped the neck of the vase while the other, had grabbed the group of flowers.

The effect was immediate. The flowers wilted, withered and began to turn black. Bella threw the handful away from her as if she had been electrocuted. We were all frozen until she looked at us with ancient sadness before masking it with apathy.

"If you don't mind I will go to bed now, I'm quite tired." Her voice was empty and she disappeared upstairs before we could answer. Charlie and I looked at each other and then towards the floor.

All that remained of the assortment was a shattered vase and scatterings of decomposed, blackened strands of plant. We both went to bed shortly afterwards, hearts heavy with grief for the girl who craved for the touch she could not have.

* * *

*~Bella~*

The next morning I awoke earlier than usual and I wondered why my mood was so low; then I remembered. I sighed and got up ready to face the day, so to speak.

Alice was already eating breakfast when I made it down to the kitchen and Charlie had already left; she must have been as uncertain of the day as I was., that or simply feeling bad for me for the events of the previous night. I sighed again.

"I'm fine Alice, really." She looked at me intently for a moment. "I'm tired Alice, I'm just tired." She knew I wasn't referring to lack of sleep.

School that day was slightly better – and worse.

It was better because people didn't stare or accost me quite so much although, that may have been because of my attitude the previous day. I had no regrets to be honest. Alice wasn't quite so lucky. She wasn't completely overwhelmed but she was now the object of admiration from the boys and jealousy from the girls; she seemed to realise this and looked chagrined. I smirked, _'that's what you get for encouraging these people Alice, you're too nice'_ I thought. She looked at me as if she knew exactly what I was thinking and I laughed out loud.

It was worse because although people gave me more personal space than yesterday, they still found me fascinating; it made me uncomfortable, I was used to being invisible, I didn't want to be noticed.

It was worse because Edward Cullen wasn't there. It was irrational, he glared at me as if I were the freaking plague – full of anger and hate – and I was upset because he wasn't at school, possibly because of me? Ridiculous.

I'd been on edge the whole morning – the stares not helping – and was considering skipping the afternoon to avoid Edward when I looked towards his table.

There were only three people there. Edward was absent.

I was relieved but also a little guilty. I couldn't really be the reason he wasn't here could I? I was consumed by my own thoughts and didn't even try to pay attention to the babble around me; Alice made me sit with the same kids from yesterday, she said it was rude to suddenly ditch them. I reluctantly agreed though I was positive that the Jessica girl wasn't after our friendship – just our 'popularity'. I inwardly rolled my eyes.

I peeked at the Cullen table and found all of them staring at myself and Alice curiously. _'probably wondering who sent their brother running for the hills'_ I thought grumpily to myself. But I noticed something else; while the rest of the family were staring at both Alice and I, Jasper had eyes only for Alice. _'Interesting…' _he obviously didn't have a problem with the Swans like his brother.

The rest of the week went on like this; we'd go to school, at lunch I'd check his table and he'd be absent. I'd then go on to Biology and became more confidant as the days went past. He was not going to intimidate me, I was adamant.

I was relieved when the weekend came. It would be just Alice and I, no Mike, no Eric – scratch that – no annoying, hormonal teenager's period. The group we sat with at lunch (which I was not particularly happy about) tried to get us to meet up with them over the weekend but both Alice and I refused. The weekend was our freedom; we could lose our masks and just be. I was not about to let some petulant adolescent screw it up.

We didn't actually do much over the weekend; we just spent time together, completed our homework and watched stupid shows on TV. It was relaxing, fun and normal.

It was perfect.

Monday morning was fast approaching and reality crashed down. I couldn't help but smile to myself as the words _'Time to pretend'_ flashed across my mind.

* * *

*~Alice~*

Before we knew it, it was Monday again and it was colder than usual; the sky above was pure white. I almost laughed after the vision I had, Bella is not going to be happy.

"It's going to snow today, dress for warmth," I warned her "it better look good." I finished threateningly. She rolled her eyes and sent an innocent smile my way.

30minutes later we were ready to go and she came downstairs sporting her ivory gloves instead of black. Noticing my curious looks she explained,

"I thought it was appropriate," Referring to the oncoming snow. I smiled until I saw what she was wearing.

"What are you wearing!" I demanded my eyes wide.

"Clothes." She answered simply with a huge grin. She was enjoying this. I huffed and stalked out the door with her laughter sounding behind me.

We arrived at school on time but just as we were exiting the cab I was wrenched into another vision. It was foggy and I was steadily getting irritated at the increasing number of unclear visions I was seeing; I didn't like being blind.

I felt hands on my shoulders and looked up to see Bella standing protectively over me and glaring at some staring bystanders, they quickly hurried away thinking nothing of the strange occurrence.

"What was it? What did you see?" Bella whispered quietly so only I could hear her; her face was anxious, probably a reaction to the expression that was on my face during the vision I was sure.

"It was foggy again, I've been getting a lot of those this past week" I muttered still irked at the lack of focus.

"But?" Bella knew me better than to think that was all I saw, a faint smile touched my lips.

"A change is coming."

Before Bella could say anything the bell rang signalling the start of school. We picked up our bags and began moving towards our first class. I looked up to see all of the Cullen kids staring at us; all of them. Bella glanced back at me to see what was holding me up; she followed my gaze and froze. They had noticed our exchange; it was clear in their expressions. I slipped my hand into Bella's; she glanced at me before murmuring,

"Come on, we'll be late." And we left, Edward Cullen and Jasper Hale's stares boring into our retreating backs.

When my class with Jasper came by I didn't know what to make of the whole situation. On the most part Jasper was studiously aloof, his actions cautious around me. His eyes were a golden butterscotch today and he seemed in a lighter mood – a different colour and mood to last week I noticed. We spoke occasionally but it was polite and only when necessary. He was hiding something and I couldn't help but think he was trying to warn me about something.

The bell rang for lunch and I rushed off to find Bella. I found her just as she was stalking into the cafeteria trying desperately to outrun Jessica and her chatter. I rushed up to her and linked my arm through hers; she spared me a warm smile before returning to the task at hand, ignoring Jessica.

I sighed; one would think that with Bella's attitude to others she would just come out and tell Jess to shut up.

I know better. I know Bella, and she wouldn't do that – at least not to Jessica.

She may appear cold but she's far from it, she's just bitter. One could argue that she cares _too_ much; and it always hurts more that way. I shook myself from those depressive thoughts and rescued Bella from Jess's ramble by capturing Bella's attention myself. She gave me a grateful smile before pleading under her breath so only I could hear, "When is it socially appropriate to leave this mind numbing table of idiots?" I laughed, _'okay maybe not so warm'_.

I glanced around the room and caught Edward Cullen gazing at us interestedly, switching his gaze between Bella and myself, his expression becoming slightly frustrated when he looked at Bella; as though he couldn't read her. His gaze snapped back to mine when I thought that and I quickly dropped my head, eating my lunch in peace and thinking of taking Bella shopping as I wrinkled my nose again at the outfit she'd chosen.

* * *

*~Bella~*

Lunch was spent with Alice and I practically in our own little bubble, but it had to end sometime. I was kind of dreading Biology, Edward would be there and I don't think I'd be able to take his glare this time without lashing out. However, he didn't seem to be hostile, in fact he looked curious and somewhat frustrated; I couldn't fathom why.

The bell rang, ending lunch hour and I made my way to Biology as if it were my death sentence. _'Coward'_ I sneered at myself. The desk was empty when I arrived so I sat down and dumped my stuff on the table, ungraciously dropping into the chair with a huff. I started doodling on my notebook to distract myself while passing the time until I heard a distinct scraping of a chair beside me; I continued to keep my eyes down and kept drawing.

"Hello," A smooth velvet voice spoke, "I'm Edward Cullen, I didn't get a chance to introduce myself last week. You must be Bella." I looked up, startled and then stared at him like an idiot.

"How do you know my name?" I managed to get out. How could he know my name? He hasn't even been here!

He chuckled, "Oh, I think the whole town has been waiting for your arrival."

I grimaced; I hadn't thought of that, I bet the whole town had a field day with the gossip.

"No, I meant why did you call me Bella? Most people call me Isabella when they first meet me…" I persisted unsure of why I was even bothering. His eyes widened almost too minutely to see but I did. _'Huh'_.

Mr Banner called for attention then so our not so conversation ended for the time being. I for one was confused. Had I imagined the glaring hatred? No, I definitely hadn't. Who could forget those cold black eyes? I took a sideways peak to see his golden eyes glancing back at me – _'Wait, golden? They were black last week…'_

"Get started!" Mr Banner had obviously been speaking while Edward and I were too busy staring so I had no idea what we were meant to be doing. I looked at the microscope on the table and the slides placed between us, _'ah, onion root cells'_. I could do this, easy.

"Ladies first partner?" Edward offered a small smile on his flawless lips.

I just stared at him again.

"Or not…" he muttered, clearly wondering if I were mentally competent.

"No, no it's fine I'll go." I was showing off a tiny bit. I slipped the first slide in and didn't have to look at it for long, "Prophase" I said confidently. I went to change the slide before Edwards' white hand flashed out to stop me.

His hand caught hold of my gloved hand. I gasped; it was ice cold. But that wasn't why I reacted; when our hands made contact I could have sworn I felt a strange energy flow through them. My eyes snapped to his face to see him staring curiously at the white leather covering my skin.

"Mind if I check it?" He asked belatedly. I lifted an eyebrow and barely restrained a snort, _'He thinks I'm wrong!'_ Hah. I made a hand gesture that conveyed the message 'by all means'.

He took a fleeting glance, "Prophase" he agreed quietly.

'_Yeah, I know my Biology Cullen'_ I thought teasingly. He slid in the next slide, took a look and said, "Anaphase."

"Mind if I check?" I wanted payback. He smirked but pushed the microscope towards me.

He was right. Damn.

The practical followed in this fashion until we were finished. We sat in silence for a moment; I looked out of the window into the swirl of white outside. Alice was right, I smiled softly to myself.

"Are you enjoying the weather here in forks?" Edward asked me out of the blue.

I looked at him bewildered. Was he forcing himself to make small talk with me? I checked his expression, he seemed to genuinely want to hear my answer.

I chuckled, "You're asking me about the weather?"

He chuckled in response, "I guess I am." He shrugged.

"Well," I paused. "I don't really have a problem with it. It's a bit rainy here but even I can't deny that it's beautiful." I don't know what made me tell him so much.

"But…?"

I looked at him again, this time in question.

"It doesn't seem like your decision to move here." He elaborated. He could see that?

"No," I agreed, "it was other circumstances we came to come here."

"Like?" He seemed genuinely interested.

"It's…complicated." I hedged, wanting him to drop it.

He didn't. "I think I can keep up" He pressed. I sighed and made the mistake of looking into his eyes. I ended up blurting out the truth – well, half truth, luckily.

"My mother got remarried." My voice sounded sad, even to me.

"And, you don't like the guy?" He assumed. I shook my head, no.

"Phil's great. He's good for her" Not like I am…

A dark expression must have crossed my face for he cocked his head slightly, curious.

"There's something else, did your mother send you here?" He was unnecessarily interested.

My chin jutted out a little, stubbornly. "No, she did not send us here, we sent ourselves." Renee would never do that to us.

"I do not understand." He admitted after a pause. He seemed frustrated by this.

I sighed again, wondering why I was even explaining this to him.

"She stayed with us at first, but she was unhappy. She missed him. Phil travels a lot."

"But now you're unhappy?" He asked.

"And?" I challenged. That has nothing to do with it.

He shrugged. "It doesn't seem fair."

I laughed without humour. "Hasn't anyone told you? Life isn't fair."

"I believe I _have_ heard that somewhere before." He muttered so quietly I wasn't sure I was meant to hear.

We were sitting quietly for a few moments when he suddenly went ridged, like the previous week; he leant away from me scooting as far away as the table would allow.

'_What is with this strange and beautiful boy?'_ I wondered, completely baffled.

Mr Banner saw we weren't doing any work and made his way to our desk to find out why. He glanced over our shoulders and frowned slightly.

"So Edward, don't you think Isabella should have had a go?" I narrowed my eyes at what he could be implying.

"Bella," Edward corrected, "And she answered three out of the five actually."

Mr Banner looked surprised. _'Twat.' _I growled in my mind.

He turned to me, "Have you done this lab before?" His tone was incredulous. _'Double Twat.'_

"Not with onion root." My tone was transparent, showing him that I knew exactly how I felt about being thought a simpleton. He looked appropriately abashed. Edward looked faintly amused.

"Were you in an advanced placement programme in Phoenix?" He asked anyway.

"Yes." I like to use my brain idiot.

He nodded and said, "Well, I guess it's good you too are working together." He mumbled something else as he walked away but I couldn't hear him.

I began doodling on my notebook again when I felt a pair of eyes on me. I shifted my gaze to meet a pair of golden ones.

"Did you get contacts?" I blurted out unthinkingly. Edward looked confused and slightly amused.

"No." He answered a mysterious edge to his velvet voice.

"Oh," I mumbled, embarrassed at my outburst. "I thought there was something different about your eyes…" I trailed off before looking intently at him again. I was sure of it; they were definitely a different colour to last weeks.

He shrugged and looked uncomfortably away. Hmm, I'd ponder that later.

He was back to being a statue. The rest of the lesson was spent in silence between the two of us.

When the bell went, he was up and out the door just as quickly as the previous week and like last week, I was left staring after him open mouthed and somehow feeling completely at fault.

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**A/N: So whatcha think? Please review etc... I really enjoy reading them so don't hold back :) Hopefully next chapter should be up sooner, I'm currently working on it...**


	7. Cold water

**A/N: Thank you all! here's another chapter :D**

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**Disclaimer: Does not belong to me, unfortunately.

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Butterflies and Hurricanes

Chapter 7

***~Bella~***

I sat, completely dumbfounded and still open mouthed at the door. _'Bipolar?' _ It was a distinct possibility; I closed my mouth, still gazing speculatively at the door. That was until Mike Newton came bounding up to my desk.

I sighed; I was going to have to do something about this boy.

"Ready to go?" he planted himself in my line of vision and beamed at me.

'_Insert wagging tail here'_ I smiled wryly. Unfortunately Newton thought I was actually smiling at him and his expression morphed into a cocky grin.

I rolled my eyes and took off through the door and down the corridor, trying in vain to outrun him. The idiot followed right on my heels.

Speaking honestly, I was being harsh. He was just happy, over eager, over friendly and… would not take a frickin' hint! ...Okay, maybe not that harsh.

-

I didn't even try to keep up with what Mike was prattling on about this time; I was too lost in my own thoughts – a beautiful, bronze haired and frustrating boy featuring in them. I walked away from Mike when we reached the gym to the girls' locker rooms, leaving him mid sentence as I had done every single day so far.

Alice was waiting for me in the locker room and I made a beeline for her. When I reached her I realized she was smiling slyly at me. _'Oh no…'_ I know that look; she's seen something funny either at my expense or… at my expense.

"What?" I demanded, glaring at her. Whatever it was I was sure it wouldn't be funny for me, just irritating.

Her smile became outright evil, "Blondie's going to ask you out. Well, he's going to make it sound casual and as if there is a whole group going but… I know better."

"Wonderful. Can't the kid take a hint?" I muttered in frustration. Alice shrugged, her eyes dancing with amusement; she could probably see what my answer was going to be – no doubt I wasn't going to censure anything.

"No. He's convinced himself that you're the love of his life." She was unsuccessful at restraining a laugh. I glowered darkly at her.

"Changing the topic, I was thinking about going out this weekend? We still haven't really bought winter wardrobes…" She was pushing the _'we'_ a little bit there – I was always covered from neck to toe. I threw a self mocking smile at her as I altered my clothing a little for gym.

Alice was unabashed and would not be deterred. "Well, if you don't need any you can still help me!" I didn't really have a choice; she wasn't actually giving me one, so I relented.

-

We were playing volleyball; a deadly sport if I ever saw one, especially for the co-ordinately challenged. I groaned in sufferance; I hated gym, why couldn't it be more tolerable, like gymnastics?

It also didn't help that I was still obsessively puzzled over Edward-Bipolar-Cullen. I growled and smacked the ball too hard, hitting a girl on the opposite team in the face.

"Sorry!" I yelled pulling an apologetic face. Alice was shaking in silent laughter. The injured girl gave me a dirty look before spiking the ball back to my side of the net while the others edged away from my aim wearily. I really didn't do well in team sports; individual was more my bag.

People still gave me weird looks for wearing gloves in gym, and for basically being covered in clothes – for sport. I couldn't blame them. The note Charlie had passed off as a doctors had given me permission to have skin coverage, but it wasn't enough for me to drop gym altogether – it was a requirement for all year groups here.

-

Gym finished and I bolted for the changing rooms, desperate to escape my personal hell. Alice followed quickly after me.

"What's up? You've been distracted all lesson." She asked once we were out of hearing range. I related to her in a whisper what had transpired between Edward and myself during Biology and the different colour of his eyes. Alice's expression turned thoughtful when I mentioned the eyes, "Jasper was the same…" She murmured deep in thought. I left her to it and we casually made our way to the truck.

On the way, I saw Mike making his way over to us and I remembered what Alice had warned me about. I cursed, grabbed Alice's wrist discreetly and hastened our pace. Alice was still deep in thought, although she had that smirk on her face again. I pinched her, strode past Mike and before he could open his mouth to ask what he inevitably wanted to ask I curtly said "No" and continued on my way.

When we reached the truck I let go of Alice in order to open the door and I felt her muscled become ridged. My head snapped up to see her gaze locked with Jasper Hale's across the lot.

"Alice!" I nudged her shoulder slightly but firmly and she snapped out of it. I glanced over to the Cullen's and saw Emmett and Rosalie looking at Jasper strangely; Edward however, was looking intently at Alice.

Alice and I looked at each other uneasily before climbing into the cab and driving out of the school parking lot as quickly as possible.

I could feel Edward Cullen and Jasper Hale's gaze on us the whole time.

-

The drive home was mostly silent; Alice was lost in thought again so I left her to it, her face portrayed its importance.

I was turning into the street where our not-so-new-home was, when Alice suddenly exclaimed, "Nicholas!" and slammed her hand down on the dashboard.

I nearly jumped out of my skin. I looked over at Alice as if she'd completely lost it.

"I told you about Nicholas didn't I?" she asked, completely ignoring my annoyance.

"I think so…" I wracked my brain for the memory. "The guy who helped you escape from the…" I trailed off not wanting to speak of the revolting _hospital._

Alice's eyes darkened slightly too, remembering; she nodded in confirmation. I still didn't understand what it had to do with anything so I waited for her to continue.

She did, "Do you remember how I described him?" I nodded; she said he was chalky pale, ethereally beautiful, had golden eyes… _OH!_

My eyes widened in realization. That description also seemed to fit the Cullen kids.

She saw the recognition dawn on my face and nodded seriously. I was about to continue the conversation but she interrupted me, "Wait until we get inside." I then remembered that we were parked outside the house.

Charlie was still at work as usual so we raced upstairs, dumped our bags in our respective rooms and congregated in Alice's.

* * *

***~Alice~***

The gaze I shared with Jasper was so intense. I couldn't tear my eyes away. If it weren't for Bella I may have stood there staring at him for quite a while.

It was like nothing I'd ever felt or seen before – wait. There _was_ something familiar about the colour of his eyes but, I couldn't put my proverbial finger on it. It felt like I was being drawn in, but in a good way. I wanted to go to him, feeling as though wherever her was, was exactly where I wanted to be; his gaze seemed to reflect exactly what I was feeling.

Bella nudged me, reminding me where I was and I successfully tore my gaze away from his. Instead I focussed on Edward, who was staring intently at _me_. I had a theory… I made my mind go blank. If my theory was correct, I didn't want him to know of it. I glanced at Bella and then back at him; the frustrated expression was returning to his face and I smiled more certain in my hunch. Bella needn't worry herself about the consequences of my _theory_.

-

After we had escaped the parking lot, arrived home and remembered Nicholas Bella and I assembled in my bedroom for our informal little meeting.

There was a beat of silence between us.

"What does this all mean?!" I exclaimed in frustration, "Why can't I see properly?!" my face turned into a pout. Bella patted my hand absently, deep in thought.

"What was with your intense gazing contest with Jasper about?" Bella asked, looking at me curiously. I told her about it and about my feelings which Jasper seeming to reflect back at me. I closed my eyes and rubbed my temples tiredly.

"Okay, tell me about Nicholas. Was there anything unusual about him?" I didn't know what Bella was going to do with this information but I told her anyway.

"He was altogether unusual. His appearance, his behaviour…" I rolled my eyes; I'd kind of accepted it at the time.

"What kind of behaviour?" she prompted.

"He never… ate, or drank. At least, I never saw him eat or drink anything." I paused, trying to remember back to the darkest period of my life. "He was… graceful, extremely so. He was cold to touch and people seemed to avoid him, even though he was really friendly. It was like an invisible line had been drawn…" I trailed off, thinking.

Bella nodded thoughtfully, "Those factors are the same with the Cullen's." I agreed, although we hadn't really being paying a lot of special attention to them.

"Maybe we should observe them, watch the differences?" I suggested. It didn't take a genius to realize that there _were_ differences; maybe they were all different, like us.

Bella seemed to be thinking along the same lines as me. "Do you think that they could be like… us?" She asked quietly. I know she wanted to know whether there were more of us out there, in her eyes – we might have found some of them.

"Well, I don't know about the others but I have a theory about Edward." I had Bella's full attention so I continued, "I think he can read minds."

Bella looked shocked and was about to protest before the thoughtful look returned to her face; probably remembering situations Edward had been in and trying to add mind reading to the equation. Eventually she came back down to earth and said, "I suppose it could be possible, but wouldn't he have noticed our thoughts on his family?"

"Me maybe, but you…" I grinned and leaned forward conspiringly, "I don't think he can read your mind." She looked shocked again, and relieved. I would imagine it would be a relief to know that no one can get inside your head.

We were silent for a time before Bella asked, "The others?" referring to possible abilities. I shrugged and shook my head.

"I don't know." I answered.

We lapsed into silence again, wrapped in our own thoughts and just relaxing in each others company; we were sat opposite one another, Bella was leaning against the headboard and I was dangling over the edge of the bed.

-

Bella eventually got up from the bed and was about to go downstairs to start dinner when my eyes glazed over and another scene covered my vision.

I emerged grinning from ear to ear and literally vibrating in excitement.

Bella raised a single eyebrow, crossed her arms and waited for me to explain.

"I _think_ that Jasper is going to really talk to me tomorrow!" I beamed rolled her eyes muttering,

"You're such a girl." and stalked downstairs.

I lay on my bed and sighed happily to myself.

-

Charlie arrived home about an hour later and we all ate the chicken and peppers that Bella made, it was delicious.

After dinner, Charlie skulked off to watch TV and Bella and I spent the evening completing homework before retreating to bed.

That was the first night I dreamt of Jasper Hale.

* * *

***~Bella~***

The next morning I woke to a bright light shining through my window. I smiled, jumped out of bed and expected to see whatever meagre sunlight Forks had to offer; my expression changed to one of horror when I peaked outside my window and saw white everywhere.

I was not looking forward to testing this deadly terrain.

I dressed in the warmest and thickest clothes I own, which also happened to be black. Perfect; it matched my mood. I also chose to wear mittens instead of my usual leather gloves; mittens would retain the heat.

-

I ate breakfast with Alice, who was curiously sanguine; I guessed it had something to do with Jasper speaking with her today. I rolled me eyes as happy smile suddenly spread across her face and I continued eating my poptart – secretly pleased at her obvious happiness.

When it was time to go and the front door had shut ominously behind me I looked wearily at the white death trap covering all available surfaces and looked helplessly at Alice with a tortured expression on my face; she giggled, already standing outside the passenger door. I slipped and slid my way across the driveway to the car door and climbed in, grumbling the whole time.

"The ice will melt by lunchtime," Alice told me helpfully, "Try not to fall, that would be embarrassing for you." She finished glancing at me, a twinkle in her eyes. I scowled in response.

I concentrated on driving us to school in one piece, moving so carefully the truck was almost crawling its way to school. Alice was becoming impatient but after me snapping at her and asking if she wanted to arrive in one piece, she let me be.

-

We arrived at school safely and with no trouble on the roads; when I climbed out of the truck I realised why. A glint of silver had caught my eye and I slipped towards the rear of the truck to inspect the wheels, I gasped quietly; an unknown emotions suddenly tightening my throat.

Charlie had woken up at god knows what hour to put snow chains on Mine and Alice's truck to make driving in this weather easier. I wasn't used to this kind of thing; I usually took care of everyone. Is this how it felt?

"Bella?" Alice called softly, probably sensing my emotional moment. "Bella, what-"she cut off abruptly with an astonished gasp.

I wheeled around to face her. She was still stood on the passenger side of the truck, near the hood of the car and she was staring in my direction – half in the present and half in the future – her eyes wide and her face twisted in terror. She suddenly looked over my left shoulder and screamed, "NO!"

I wheeled around once again to find what had frightened Alice so, just as an awful screeching sound abused my ears.

I noticed three things at once, none of that slow motion crap like in the movies. Adrenaline was making my brain work faster. First, I saw Alice, her arms outstretched across the hood of the car as if to pull me out of the way – but she was too far away. Second, I saw Edward Cullen, among the sea of students sporting identical expressions of shock and fear - his face was twisted in horror and his mouth was half open as if to scream at me. And third, I saw Tyler Crowley's Blue van skidding towards the bed of the truck - which my body was obstructing.

I didn't have time to close my eyes before I was hit, but not from the direction I was expecting. My head slammed to the concrete and something cold and hard was pinning my body to the ground. I lay; stunned by the turn of events before a low oath made me aware that I was not alone, I would recognize that voice anywhere. I looked up in time to see two large white hands shoot out and push the oncoming van away from my face, leaving hand sized dents in its wake. However, fate didn't seem to be done yet. _'Bloody fate'_ I growled petulantly in my mind before I was lifted and dragged like a rag-doll to the side as the van came twisting round for another round. The sound of crunching metal reached my ears as I watched him, wide eyed as he quickly lifted and placed the van out of harms way.

There was a pause where everything was deathly silent.

Then the screaming started.

"Bella?" Edward spoke frantically, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." I answered, somewhat dazed and confused. He let out a breath of relief. I tried to sit up but he put a restraining hand on my shoulder.

"Be careful, you hit your head pretty hard."

"Ow." I said, surprised. He laughed a little breathlessly.

"H-how'd you get over to me so fast?" I asked, gazing up at him in confusion. His expression went blank.

"I was stood right next to you Bella" He corrected me, his golden eyes boring into my brown ones.

"No." I said sternly, "You were by your car across the lot." I was positive of that.

"Bella, I was beside you, I pushed you out of the way." His eyes were so compelling. _'Cheater'._

"Yes, you pulled me out of the way. But you were definitely not stood next to me" I frowned up at him. Why was he lying?

"Please Bella." I almost lost my train of thought. Almost.

"Why?" He didn't answer; he just stared at me pleadingly. I tried to sit up again, and this time he let me – scooting as far away from me as space would allow. I looked at him about to question him again when I got caught in his gaze again.

Students started gathering around the car wreckage, some with tears streaming down their faces.

"Don't move!"

"Bella! We've got 911 on the phone now!"

"Someone get Tyler out of the van!"

I looked back at Edward who was looking grumpy.

"Will you promise to tell me later?"

"Fine!" He snapped. I glared.

"Fine." I returned.

-

I searched around the students for Alice who I found still by the hood of the truck, being restrained by Jasper as she desperately attempted to get to me; she had tears streaming down her face and she was shaking.

"Alice!" I yelled, "I'm fine sis, don't worry please calm down." She stopped shaking but her attempts at freedom doubled in ferocity.

It took the EMT's a while to get to us with the van in the way but when they did I suddenly realized what position I was currently in. My eyes widened as he attempted to touch me and do a check up; I recoiled and looked frantically at Alice. I had to get out of here because by the looks of things – plus the ambulance – they were planning on taking us to the hospital.

I insisted that I was fine, never better - but Edward bloody Cullen told them that I had hit my head and could possibly have a concussion.

"Traitor!" I growled viciously at him as they once again attempted to touch me; this time to put me on a gurney.

No. Frickin'. Way.

Edward looked slightly taken aback at my hostility and slightly suspicious as he observed me avoiding the EMT's clutches. Just what I needed. _'Bah!'_

Just when I was contemplating simply touching the pushy bastard (I was starting to get angry) Alice came whizzing into sight, pushing the EMT delicately out of the way as she 'flustered' over me.

"I love you so damn much right now" I declared as Alice grinned slyly at me, even though she still had concern blazing in her dark green eyes.

"Alice, I'm fine." I assured her calmly. She smiled at me, though it took a little effort. She kept mumbling how it was all her fault.

"I'm sorry ma'am, but you may have a concussion, you need to get it checked out at the hospital. Please come with us if you're not going to be carried on the stretcher." The EMT was persistent and before I could refuse, Alice gave me a helpless look and Edward said firmly,

"Get in the ambulance Bella."

It was the most embarrassing moment in my life.

-

The whole student body watched as I climbed ungracefully into the ambulance and even worse; Charlie arrived before we could escape. His expression showed absolute panic. Edward just strolled past and calmly and casually got into the passenger seat of the ambulance, Alice was seated beside me in the back.

What was strange was that none of Edward's siblings looked concerned for their brother's safety. Jasper was looking understanding, whatever that meant; but Emmett and Rosalie's expressions ranged from confusion to fury.

-

When we got to the hospital, they insisted that they wheel me in; heaven forbid I walk!

I outright refused the neck brace, it was completely ridiculous.

Edward just walked in freely, under his own power. I grumbled and glared darkly at the EMT attempting to strap a neck brace onto me. He backed off and Alice snatched the brace from his grasp.

Not long after I was wheeled in, Tyler Crowley was brought in; he was covered in blood and scratches. The moment he saw me he started spewing out apology after apology even after I told him it was fine and there was nothing wrong with me. He still wouldn't shut up; so I pretended to sleep.

I was taken to get an X-Ray against my will and Charlie and Alice were nowhere in sight. I was careful not to let anyone touch my skin but in a hospital they all insist on being all touchy feely. When I came back from the X-ray both Charlie and Alice were waiting in the room for me; I sighed in relief.

"Get me out of here." I said immediately.

Charlie nodded knowing how dangerous this was for me, "Just let me go get the paperwork to sign." I closed my eyes and pretended to sleep again as Tyler's incessant apologies continued like an annoying buzzing.

"Is she asleep?" Edward Cullen murmured. My eyes snapped open, startled as i headn't heard him enter and I stared intently at him. He smiled mockingly at me.

"So, what's the verdict?"

I frowned, "There's nothing wrong with me. Why aren't you forced into a gurney like the rest of us?" I demanded petulantly.

He grinned crookedly at me and my heart skipped a beat. "It's all about who you know." He winked knowingly, "But don't worry, I came to spring you."

I inwardly snorted. _'Like I'd need your help if I wanted to escape'. _But I was curious...

-

That moment, the door opened and an inhumanly beautiful, pale and blonde man walked through. _'This must be Dr Cullen'_ I speculated silently to myself.

"I hear we have the chief's daughter here!" He teased good-naturedly. I liked him already; he had a nice manner about him. "Do you mind if I take a look at you?" He continued, looking at me for acceptance.

Crap. Where was Charlie with those papers? In fact, where the hell was Alice?

"Uhh…" I stuttered and stalled, leaning away from his approaching hand. Edward and Dr Cullen looked confused as they watched me desperately try to escape his oncoming inspection. Blessedly, Alice chose that moment to appear and rushed to my side; she grabbed his outstretched hand and shook it enthusiastically, plastering a huge smile on her face.

"Hi! I'm Alice Swan, Bella's sister. You must be Dr Cullen! It's a pleasure to meet you sir!" She was bouncing up and down by the time she was finished and the poor doctor looked completely baffled. _'The lengths Alice will go'_ I thought fondly, smiling at her. She winked at me.

"How were my X-rays?" I asked innocently, diverting his attention from touching me. He composed himself and answered my question.

"They were fine, there doesn't seem to be anything out of order." He smiled kindly at us. I hopped up from the bench and linked my fingers through Alice's,

"Well, if that's all I'd best be off!" I knew I was being really un-sly but we needed to get out as quickly as possible.

Dr Cullen frowned slightly, but noticing that I was going to leave whether he wanted me to or not he simply said, "Take some Tylenol for the pain." I nodded and smiled gratefully at him.

I looked at Edward, whose expression was carefully uninterested.

"Can I speak with you alone?" I whispered to him. He looked angry and reluctant but nodded all the same.

"I'll go find Charlie." Alice murmured in my ear, I nodded and squeezed her hand before letting her go.

-

Edward strode past me and lead me to an empty hallway. He turned to me sharply and said, "What?" rudely. I frowned and was silent for a moment.

"How did you get over to me so fast and stop the van?" It all came out in a rush and in one sentence.

"What are you talking about Bella?" He said, confused. Too confused; he was like an actor delivering lines. Even the expression on his face – bored incredulity – was a mask. I would know, I wear masks all the time.

"You know exactly what I am talking about."

"You think I lifted a van off you?" his tone questioned my sanity. _'Oh you're good Cullen, but not enough to fool me'. _

I nodded confidently.

"I know what I saw." I said firmly, gazing unblinkingly at him.

"Well, nobody's going to believe you so…" He just as good as admitted it right there; but, he was worried about me telling someone? _'Hello? I have my own secret to keep here'_ Not that he knew that…

"I wasn't going to tell anybody." I enunciated each syllable, practically oozing honesty. He looked surprised for a moment before controlling his expression and schooling back into the blank mask. He was silent for a moment.

"Can't you just thank me and get over it?" He growled at me.

"Thank you." I waited expectantly.

"You're not going to let this go are you?" His eyes narrowed. I shook my head stubbornly and he breathed heavily through his nose.

"Then I hope you enjoy disappointment." He turned to leave and I couldn't contain myself any longer.

"Why did you even bother?" I exploded, annoyed at his indifference; that he wouldn't trust me.

He looked unexpectedly vulnerable, "I don't know." He whispered and I didn't know if he was answering me or himself. He turned his back on me and stalked out of the hospital, his head bowed and his hands shoved deep into his pockets.

-

I stared after him for several minutes silently fuming, before going to find Alice and Charlie. I found them at the front entrance waiting for me, with half the school student body also waiting. I saw Mike and Jessica starting to converge on me so I raced towards Alice and Charlie muttering, "Let's get out of here." I wanted to go home and sulk.

We reached the cruiser just as Charlie admitted reluctantly that he'd told my mother about the accident. I stared at him in disbelief.

"You told mom?!" I accused. He simply shrugged sheepishly. "Ugh! She's probably freaking out…" I would have to call her when we got home.

I was right, Renee was in hysterics of course, and begged Alice and I to come home; forgetting momentarily that no one was there – she was in Florida. It took me almost an hour but I managed to mollify her and insisted she stay where she was, "I'm fine here" I assured her repeatedly, "They treat us differently here…" I added.

I knew that sentence would cement our presence in Forks for my mom. Renee desperately wanted Alice and I to be accepted by our peers – preferably for who we were, but we can't have everything in life – and if Forks was the place where this happened, she wasn't about to uproot us. After I said my love and goodbyes to my loving and hair brained mother, I took three Tylenol and tried very hard not to think as I drifted to sleep.

-

I didn't know about Alice, but I was very aware of the reason why I wasn't as eager to escape Forks as I should be. I was consumed by the mystery that Edward and his family presented – and a little obsessed by Edward himself.

That was the first night I dreamt of Edward Cullen.

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**A/N: I thought i'd explain more about Bella's ability. It is explained later on in the story but i feel that you will understand her better if you know her situation. you may have guessed what part of her ability is and to answer the question: yes i did get some of the idea from Rogue out of x-men :) although it isn't exactly like hers. I also got some of the idea from Typhoid out of Electra (Y) i added my own element on top of that...**

**Like rogue, Bella cannot have skin to skin contact with anyone - or she'll absorb their life force, probably killing them if she held on for too long. However, unlike rogue, bella's ability counts for all LIVING beings. People, Animals and even plants (as demonstrated in the previous chapter ;)) By absorbing the life force she is killing whatever she touches, hence the blackened colour of decomposition. She does not absorb memories, personalities or thoughts when she touches a human like Rogue does.**

**And that's all i'm telling you for now ;) you'll have to wait and see what the rest means and what'll happen.**

**Please review, i like to know what you all think and it's much appreciated :D**


	8. Fascination and Misery

**A/N: Thankye thankye :) Here's another chapter, not as long as the previous though.**

**By the by – this story does follow the timeline of TWILIGHT and the rough events of the book itself; I've just added and changed some stuff for the purposes of my idea and storyline ;) **

**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing :)

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Butterflies and Hurricanes

Chapter 8

***~Alice~***

My dream was unusual. The Jasper featuring in it was confusing but… it was nice.

We were just staring, just as we were in the parking lot that day; and like that day, the gaze was full of mutual understanding and matching emotions.

He reached for me, placing his cold alabaster hand to my cheek. I leaned into his touch, my eyes closing contentedly. When I opened them, his warm butterscotch eyes were softened by some unfathomable emotion.

On the horizon, the sun was rising; engulfing us in its glow but, when I looked once again to smile at Jasper – he was gone.

I woke up.

A bright pale light was filtering through the window of my bedroom. Disgruntled to be woken from such a pleasant - if somewhat confusing – dream, I padded over to the offensive window to see what was so darn bright.

Everything was white.

'_Oh, right'_ I'd forgotten about the predicted snowfall. With that realization, I remembered that I would be speaking to Jasper to day at last.

With considerably more vigour I continued my morning routine and was already eating breakfast when Bella stumbled her way to the kitchen.

-

I was peacefully content one the way to school, only slightly impatient with Bella's careful driving. I warned her of the impending melting of the snow, teasing her just a little.

Of course, that all changed when we exited the truck after reaching our destination.

Bella had skated her way to the rear of the truck to inspect the tires, which I realized had snow chains attached to them. _'Must have been Charlie' _I thought warmly to myself. I looked over to Bella to gauge her reaction; her face was twisted in some sort of heartfelt emotion. My expression turned slightly sad; _'was it so surprising for her to be looked after once in a while?'_ I opened my mouth to ask if she was alright when a vision brutally captured my consciousness.

My heart nearly stopped.

Tyler Crowley's van was about to hit a patch of ice sending it skidding into a frenzy, it would squeal and crash into Mine and Bella's truck; with Bella stood between them.

"NO!" I screamed in absolute panic and gut wrenching terror. Bella looked at me concerned and afraid for me before hearing the sound I dreaded.

My vision was beginning to play out and I tried to climb onto the hood of the truck to catapult myself to Bella. However, I didn't get far before Jasper Hale blurred – yes, _blurred _– across the lot and grab me around the waist to stop me.

"BELLA! BELLA!" I screeched hysterically, kicking and trying with all my might to reach my sister who could very well be a crushed pile of carnage on the concrete. I could have stayed stock still for all the good my struggling achieved; Jasper was immovable.

"Alice!" Jasper called desperately, "She's fine! Bella's fine!" I suddenly felt waves of calm attempting to penetrate and neutralise my absolute panic.

'_WHAT?!'_ I thought in complete disbelief. _'How could she possibly be fine?!'_ I stared at him incredulously in my awkward state in his arms; he shifted a little in response.

I looked over to my sister, fearful of what I could find.

-

Instead of the wreckage I'd feared; Bella was completely unharmed. Edward Cullen was by her side, Tyler's blue van inches from his and Bella's faces and with hand sized dents in the metal door. _'What the hell? His car is the other side of the lot?'_ confusion and relief were now added to my emotional rollercoaster. I stopped struggling and settled for shaking in the aftershock instead.

Jasper whispered soothing words in my ear, his calm enveloping me like a blanket.

It took a while for the adults to move Tyler's van to get Edward and Bella out. As soon as it was accomplished they were accosted by EMT's and Bella's eyes widened in fear as he reached out to touch her; she shook her head, protesting vehemently as the backed away from him. My attempts at freedom began again and Jasper restrained me once again.

"Please let me go! I need to go to her!" I pleaded desperately, looking into his eyes. He looked at me for a long moment, reading my expression before hesitantly releasing me.

"Thank you" I murmured, giving him a weak smile before dashing off to save Bella.

The events that followed were a blur of fear, confusion and careful manipulation. Charlie arrived just as Bella was being loaded into the ambulance with me watching helplessly, having failed at dissuading them from letting us forgo a trip to the hospital. On the upside, we managed to get her out of there pretty quickly but not before causing some suspicion with Edward and Dr Cullen.

-

Bella and I stayed off school after we left the hospital, not wanting to be in the lime light right that moment. Charlie stayed with us for a while but, not really knowing what to do with himself he returned to work. Bella and I sat in silence for a few moments before she got up and headed upstairs muttering something about calling mom. She'd be I while I knew, Renee would be in hysterics _'no thanks to Charlie' _I thought humourlessly.

Bella didn't emerge from her room for two hours, I wouldn't have expected less. She walked into my room after taking a few Tylenol and leant against the dresser. I looked up from the magazine I was reading.

She was silent and looked annoyed. I waited patiently.

"I've never been more frustrated in all my life." She declared eventually. My eyebrows raised a fraction. She then proceeded to fill me in on what I'd missed between her and Edward.

Well this was certainly intriguing. Tomorrow should definitely be interesting.

She went to bed not long after our discussion, still a little miffed about the whole ordeal.

Jasper featured once again in my dreams that night.

* * *

The next morning brought a change of weather conditions and with this brand new day appeared to bring a new attitude to certain members of the student population.

Bella and I woke up, got ready and went to school just like any other school morning. We faced the dark and dreary day just like any other also.

This didn't seem to be the case with Jasper and Edward.

To be perfectly honest, it was Edward more than Jasper. I hadn't seen anything happening that day and you could state that was the problem. I couldn't see.

The morning progressed fairly normally; excluding the lime light we anticipated, and Bella's dismay at the attention.

-

When it was time for my History class with Jasper, I was quite excited and happy. That was until I sat down in my seat, smiled warmly at him and cheerfully greeted him

He did not smile back and he did not greet me. His face was blank and all he gave was a stiff nod, barely meeting my eyes before looking out of the window. I could feel the waves of hurt pouring out of me and in my peripheral vision I saw him wince slightly. He half glanced at me, looking uncomfortable. _'What the hell are you looking at me like that for?' I_ thought angrily, fighting back the slight pricking in my eyes. He winced again. _'Good'_

Class ended and I stormed off to lunch without a backwards glance. Just as I was about to enter the cafeteria, Jasper was suddenly at my side holding onto my arm, forcing me to come to a standstill. "Alice" he pleaded quietly but I wouldn't look at him. I didn't know why his indifference hurt so much.

"Alice, it's just… better. Safer…" he was struggling for words and I finally looked at him. I levelled an even gaze before saying softly and somewhat unexpectedly,

"That's not what I see." His eyes widened at my cryptic remark that I didn't really expect myself to say and he released my arm from his icy hold. I turned and walked into the lunchroom, just wanting to sit with Bella today.

* * *

***~Bella~***

My dream was dark. I was stood under the green canopies of Forks forests. I wasn't sure why I was where I was until I saw the silhouette of Edward Cullen in the near distance. My heartbeat quickened and I stumbled towards him as fast as I could, watching out for the tree roots. He turned away from me, his bronze hair shining in the limited sunlight filtering between the branches. He was just out of my reach! Every time I got closer he would move further away, until he was just an illuminating shadow in the much farther distance. I started running then, my dream legs not working fast enough and he got further and further away until he disappeared completely. I continued running and running, frantically searching…

The beeping of my alarm brought me crashing into consciousness. I groaned; I was not looking forward to the day. Alice and I were sure to be the centre of attention, it was inevitable.

-

I was correct. It was unbearable and almost painful. Everywhere we went we were faced with curious and excited questioned over our survival of such an impending doom; now that it was clear we were not harmed, they didn't hold back. _'Ugh'._

I noticed Edward wasn't getting accosted and didn't have people swarming around him; no one even asked for his wellbeing. Everyone I spoke to claimed they hadn't seen Edward there until after the van was pulled away, and then thought nothing of it.

It became agonizingly clear that the reason why no one thought anything of it was because no one watched Edward the way I do; they didn't notice everything he did like I do. _'Ugh'_ I repeated my earlier thought _'I'm pathetic'._

_-_

I entered the cafeteria to find Alice sitting by herself at an empty table in the opposite corner to the Cullen's and I immediately knew something had happened. I gave a not so apologetic apology to our usual lunch companions and went to join her at her isolated table.

"Are we ditching them forever or are you just taking a momentary break from our delightful _friends_?" I remarked dryly with a raised eyebrow when I sat down across from her. She gave me a small smile but it was half assed. She was upset. I stared at her expectantly and she just shrugged at me.

I was concerned now, "What happened? Who did what and where are they?" I was working myself up now. She looked at me like a kicked puppy and shook her head sadly.

"Don't. It's nothing really." She spoke quietly and to the table.

I frowned, it was obviously something but if she didn't want to talk about it I couldn't really do anything to help. We just sat silently for a while.

"It always happens doesn't it? Wherever we go…" I looked up sharply and stared at her intently, silently willing her to continue.

"Always the same, just like you said 'only a matter of time'" She sounded so hurt and dejected!

"Alice?" I questioned quietly and our eyes met, brimming with identical degrees of sadness that only we could truly comprehend.

"It's just not fair." She whispered, cupping her face in her small hands and looking at me with wide, vulnerable eyes.

"It never is." I agreed, propping my chin on my fist and gazing back at her, worry lines most likely creasing my forehead.

The rest of lunch hour passed in relative silence. We would talk more freely later, in the safety and comfort of our sanctuary.

-

I later entered Biology for 5th period, still angry at Edwards distrust in me and barefaced lies, though willing to speak with him and get to know him more.

"Hello Edward." I said pleasantly as I sat down at our desk, showing him that I was on my best behaviour. He turned his head slightly and nodded, never actually looking my way. He otherwise acted as if there was nobody sat next to him, as if I didn't exist.

This continued for the rest of the month.

* * *

I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't hurt by his behaviour. I understood then, why Alice reacted the way she did that day also; Jasper had done the same thing to her what Edward had was doing to me.

We were getting in way to deep and we knew it.

-

For a whole month he never looked my way and most definitely never spoke to me. None of the Cullen's really looked our way anymore, not that Rosalie and Emmett did much of that to begin with.

Jasper spoke to Alice a little, he was easier on her then Edward was to me. The silent treatment I was receiving was making me miserable and depressed. The tenor of my mood in my messages to my mom alerted her to how I was feeling and she called me a few times a week to try and figure out what the problem was.

However, being the stubborn creature I am, I refused to let Edward see how much his aloofness was affecting me so I retaliated in kind. I ignored Edward Cullen just as thoroughly as he ignored me; refusing to acknowledge his existence in the slightest…and then when he wasn't looking, I observed and watched him like the closet stalker I was.

-

There was one person who seemed pleased at the obvious coolness between my lab partner and I. Mike Newton seemed to fear that I would be _impressed_ by Edward's daring rescue and fall at his feet like some moronic damsel in distress. I did not appreciate this nor his renewed attempts at capturing my romantic attention. His ego grew and he became more confident sitting at my lab table to chat before class started. It was quite amusing. Even with my non committal answers and thinly veiled rebuffs, he still wouldn't get the hint. I decided he was either extremely dim-witted, in denial or foolishly determined.

One good outcome did emerge from the miserable month; Jessica finally became useful with her gossip and informed me of a school spring dance that was coming up. It was the girls choice but I didn't doubt that it would deter the admirers Alice and I had acquired much.

She phoned up for permission to ask Mike to the dance; I couldn't be happier to be rid of him and happily assured her that I was definitely not planning on asking him myself.

"Are you sure?" She asked, full of fake uncertainty. I restrained a snort.

"Positive. I'm not even going to the dance, Alice and I are going to Seattle that day."

She chatted for a little longer before I claimed that the dinner required my attention, and hung up.

-

The next day was the first day of a new month.

It was a day Alice and I spent hiding from and deflecting eager boys.

It was also the day Edward Cullen began speaking to me again.

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**A/N: Y'know, i really love reviews :)**

**I know it's shorter than the previous chapters and they won't all be this short but i guess this is what happens when you post at 12am, no?**

**Please give feedback, thanks all!  
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	9. The small print

**DISCLAIMER: Owning nothing over here.**

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**Chapter 9**

***~Alice~***

The month after the 'almost accident' was slow and excruciating; excruciatingly slow. Even for me, and I had it easier than Bella. I made sure that whenever Edward-Bipolar-Cullen was around, I gave him as much grief as possible in my mind as I could for daring to depress my sister. I spewed insult after insult – without making it obvious that I knew he was listening of course.

-

Jasper was talking to me. It was polite and strictly to do with school but, we were getting somewhere and despite whether or not his family (namely his brooding brother) disapprove, he was making a little effort. It was a tentative and precarious relationship – because we both knew that there were more under the surface, just waiting to brim over and drown us in it. Not that I was opposed to that option…

However, after that fateful icy day, Bella and I were being watched. We knew they were different and, thanks to my manic attempt to grab Bella before Tyler's van had hit the ice, the Cullen's were suspicious of us now too. I had a sneaky feeling they had an inkling of what I could do but Bella… I did and I didn't want them to know. It could be dangerous after all and maybe… they wouldn't be as understanding as we (Bella denying vehemently at her inclusion, even though she knew it was true) desperately hoped.

Bella thought that they ignored us.

She thought he ignored her.

She was wrong.

They watched us surreptitiously; this I knew. He watched her every move when she wasn't looking and slyly when she was; this I knew. He also knew that I knew that he watched her. We came to a truce of sorts seeing as I watched his brother while he watched my sister – clearly both of us had no lives.

* * *

The days continued to blur together, ignorance and strained politeness during the day and sisterly chats and freedom in the evenings although, even those seemed to be encroached upon by thoughts of the Cullen's.

By means of our social circle at school Bella and I became aware of an impending occasion; the spring dance, which also happened to be the girl's choice.

The fact didn't seem to falter any of the boys however.

-

It was the morning of a new day in a new month when I browsed the future for the day and was treated to one of the most hilarious visions in my life. It was in this state of hysteria that Bella found me, rolling around on the floor nearly crying in mirth. She observed me with a sort of detached amusement, a small smile playing on her lips.

She wouldn't be amused by the end of the day, that's for sure.

I was still giggling to myself by the time we were leaving the house and heading for school.

My first few lessons were filled with an atmosphere of tentative mating dances performed by various members of the student body. Bella and I found this an amusing source of entertainment, so long as it was not aimed towards us. _'Unfortunately for you, as far as I'm aware you have a couple in line sister'_ I laughed silently at her in my head.

-

When history rolled round I was still in a fairly good mood and politely greeted Jasper as I usually did.

"Good morning Jasper"

"Mornin' Alice" He murmured in reply and throughout the lesson he continuously glanced at me out of the corner of his eye. I smiled softly to myself.

Throughout lunch I was back to laughing hysterically at Bella in my head with the main motivation for doing so may or may not being to make Edward jealous.

I had a feeling it was working. Excellent.

* * *

***~Bella~***

Alice was looking at me with a wicked smile on her face and I knew in that moment that what she was laughing about this morning had everything to do with today and with me.

Just my luck.

I had an idea to what it could be about too. Jessica was not her usual bubbly _'if that's what you want to call it' _self throughout Spanish, trig and the walk to the cafeteria. If Mike had turned down her invitation to the dance I would be the last person she would want to speak to. My suspicions were confirmed when she sat as far away form Mike as the table allowed. _'crap'_

Alice was now laughing at me in her head, I was sure.

-

The walk to Biology, I had to endure with Mike but he was less chatty than usual. Usually this would please me a great deal but not today, because this meant he was pondering something most likely to do with me. _'Always a dangerous action to take if you ask me.'_

I sat down at the lab table, electrically aware of Edward Cullen sat next to me as I always was and mentally prepared myself when Mike hesitated at the edge of the table, staring at his feet.

"So, uhh, Jessica asked me to the dance." He started off awkwardly.

"Nice. You'll have a great time with Jessica." I made my tone pleased and optimistic. He _will_ go with her even if I have to force him to.

"Well, I told her I had to think about it." He didn't sound happy with my response. _'Tough luck bud.'_

"Why would you do that?" I made it sound like he'd committed a terrible crime.

He was embarrassed, "I was kind of hoping you'd ask me…" he mumbled. Edwards' head tilted slightly in our direction.

"You should accept Jess." Had Mike noticed Edward's reaction?

He had. "Why? Have you already asked someone else?" Did Edward notice the way Mike glanced toward him when he said this?

"No. I'm not going to the dance." I was slightly amused, he sounded so petulant.

"Why not?" he demanded.

"I don't want to."

"Why?" _'Oh for the love of God…'_

"They aren't my thing and besides Alice and I are going away that weekend anyway."

"You can't go some other weekend?"

"No." I was getting annoyed at his wheedling.

He huffed and shuffled towards his table.

'_Dear Barbara…'_ I rubbed my temples tiredly and leant my elbows on the desk.

-

I opened my eyes to find Edward staring intently at me, our eyes met and he didn't look away. It felt as though an age had passed since I'd looked into his butterscotch eyes and seeing them now I felt an unfamiliar emotion pulsing through me. He stared at me with such intensity that my hands began to shake.

"The Krebs cycle." He answered a question Mr Banner had asked which I had missed and turned to face the front with a sigh.

My heart was beating faster than usual and I could feel the heat of a blush upon my cheeks. I shifted my hair over my shoulder, hiding myself from his gaze and tried desperately to ignore his existence for the rest of the lesson.

At the end of the period I turned my back to collect my bag, expecting him to race out of there like a bat out of hell as usual.

"Bella?" why did his voice sound so familiar to me?

I turned slowly and hesitantly, not knowing what he wanted. He just stared intently at me again.

"What? Are you speaking to me now?" My voice sounded slightly petulant, making me want to slap myself. His mouth twitched, _'don't you dare!'_ I narrowed my eyes at him in warning.

"No," he admitted finally. I sighed through my nose and closed my eyes. I would be less distracted that way.

"Then what do you want?"

"I'm sorry" he apologized quietly, "I know I'm being rude but it's better this way, trust me."

My eyes snapped open and I glared at him fiercely.

"You know you really should have figured that out earlier and saved yourself all of this regret!" I hissed.

"Regret for what?" he was bewildered.

"For not letting the stupid van squish me!"

He seemed almost mad when I said that, "You think I regret saving you?"

"I know you do."

"You don't know anything" He was definitely mad.

"It is you who doesn't know, Edward Cullen." I growled at him before stalking out of the door and towards the gym.

* * *

People kept out of my way during gym alerting Alice to the tenor of my mood. For the first time since we'd moved here, the student population were finally showing an expected reaction; avoidance.

-

I was later, after class in the girl's locker room when my temper sky-rocketed and Alice had to physically restrain me.

Lauren Mallory, a blonde haired girl with a fishy face who had always been stand-offish with Alice and I, was stood in front of the lockers on the opposite side of the room to ours and gossiping to a group of girls stood with her.

I reluctantly caught the part of the conversation she was having.

"-it was marked as an accident but they were expelled for it. Yeah I know right? How could someone do that, I always thought they were freaks and here's the proof!"

I froze. Alice went ridged next to me. I prayed to whatever higher power that she was not talking about what I feared she was talking about.

"Where did you hear this?" Amy, a girl neither of us had ever really spoken to and who had never shown any animosity towards us, inquired.

"My cousin, his friend goes to Phoenix High and heard about the whole thing first hand. He said it was all really weird and that they never had any friends. They just stuck together, freaks." Lauren sneered.

"You don't know if that's true, Bella and Alice are really nice. These people obviously didn't know them." Angela spoke up from a little distance away in our defence and there were a few murmurs of agreement in the group.

Lauren scoffed disdainfully, "Did you not hear what I said? She attacked him! He's still in hospital from what I hear." _'Good'_

"No!" they were shocked murmurs now.

Lauren nodded to her eager audience, "The only witnesses were Bella and Alice, no one knew what happened and they only had their account since she sent the other guy to hospital!"

-

I was seeing red and Alice began shaking. How dare she remind Alice of the second worse experience in her life! How dare she sabotage what little shred of haven Alice and I had in this damn town! I moved as if to lunge at her but Alice, most likely seeing what I planned to do, wrapped her little arms around my waist and dragged me through the exit with our bags trailing behind her.

"Let me go Alice! I'm going to rip that bitch's throat out! Let. Me. Go!" I snarled at her clawing at her in order to attack the disgusting excuse for a human still prancing about inside.

"You can't! Please Bella!" Alice pleaded desperately with me and I realised she was crying. "Please, not again" she whimpered.

I tore out of her weakened hold, whirled around and pulled her towards me and wrapped her in the familiar embrace she needed. She was shaking and I felt sickened with myself for my reaction which I was sure added to the memory she tried so hard to repress.

"Shhh. It's fine now, we're fine." I shushed her quietly, she only held onto me tighter and buried deeper into my embrace.

-

We were attracting attention and many people were staring curiously at us. Among those people were the Cullen's. I groaned quietly to myself _'of course they had to be here'_.

Jasper looked as though he was battling with himself, as if he wanted to approach us. Edward looked conflicted too; he also looked angry and was looking intently at Alice. I remembered Alice's theory about Edward being a mind reader and thought that they way he was looking at Alice and his reactions, the possibility of her suspicions being correct were quite high.

"I'm sorry Ali, I'm so sorry." I murmured in despair feeling overwhelmingly guilty. It was my fault, it had to be.

I felt her shake her head. She lifted her tearstained face towards mine and said with such conviction, "It was not your fault. And you know what? I'm glad that monster is where he is right now because without you I don't know where I'd be right now." She suddenly closed her eyes and whimpered again, "You don't know what his plans were. What he wanted to do!" she opened her eyes to look at me again and whispered, "If anything, I'm thanking you Bells."

I was shocked. I'd never asked what she seen that day and she'd never offered. What she barely revealed in that moment solidified my decision to never know. I didn't want to know what the bastard had planned for my sister, it would only make me want to go back and hurt him more than he was already.

"Let's go home." I whispered to my sister who in that moment seemed so small and lost, I was reminded of the 11 year old who had found me in that park all those years ago. I took her hand in mine and once again, we began the journey home.

-

As I was pulling out of the parking lot with Alice sniffling every now and then in the passenger seat, I saw something that nearly made me crash the truck.

The Cullen's were watching mine and Alice's departure; they all looked angry, as though they'd heard everything that had transpired between us, except for Rosalie.

Rosalie looked furious.

This mystery just keeps getting more and more complicated.

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**A/N: aaah, i bet you're wondering what the hell happened right? you'll find out soon enough, and so will the Cullens ;) Bella and Alice are steadily getting closer and closer to the truth, and what of Rosalie eh?**

**Thank you to reviewers, favouriters and alerters! reviews make me really happy :D *hints* press the button? vvv**


	10. In step

**A/N: Thanks so much, guys! Please continue with the feedback :) **

**Many things shall be revealed in this chapter and a few of your questions shall be answered… but not all, that time has not come yet BUT soon! I promise it will be soon! :) until then…**

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**Disclaimer: I own nothiiiing**

Butterflies and Hurricanes

Chapter 10

***~Alice~***

This could not be happening. It was all over; I thought it was all over! _'How did she find out?'_

Bella was completely silent the whole journey home. She was furious but I knew it wasn't aimed at me. I knew what she wanted to do to Lauren but it wasn't worth it; the petty little girl didn't know what damage she'd caused by uttering that forbidden story. It was buried and buried deep but neither Bella nor I had actually dealt with it.

That had to change.

Bella seemed to be thinking along the same lines as myself, _'we really _are_ sisters in a way' _I felt a little better knowing my sister would never leave me or let anything happen to me.

"Ali, we need to talk this through." She murmured softly, placing her gloved hand upon my thigh. We were outside the house now although we had yet to exit the cab.

"I know," I sighed, reluctant and not looking forward to what was coming, "we've been avoiding it for too long but I don't know if I'm completely ready yet." She nodded in agreement and understanding.

-

Instead of retreating to either of our bedrooms, Bella steered me towards the sofa where she sat down and opened her arms.

That was all the invitation I needed.

I pounced on her, grabbed hold of the front of her shirt, buried my head in her shoulder and cried until my tear ducts ran dry. I was not crying only for myself. I was crying for what happened to both of us, what could have happened and for all the tears that should have been shed over the years that Bella and I refused to let fall. I was crying for two, Bella always stood stoic but I could hold it in no longer.

Bella shushed me, rocked us and softly stroked my hair. She whispered sweet words in my ear, telling me everything would work out. She did not say it would be 'fine', we both knew that was impractical, but it _would_ work out. _'It will work out the way it's meant to.'  
_

I raised my head a fraction to see Bella's head resting on the back of the sofa, eyes closed and a slow trail of silent tears sliding down her face. Upon feeling my movement, she opened her eyes and smiled gently with eyes full of love.

-

That was how Charlie found us, a couple of hours later still wrapped in each other's arms and letting all the built up emotions seep away. He stood observing us a moment before joining us on the sofa and in a very un-Charlie-like manoeuvre, bundled the both of us in his embrace.

"They found out." Was all he said and we knew he was referring to the Lauren incident.

"Yes." Bella replied in a forced even tone.

"Did you…?" Bella shook her head.

"But I wanted to." Hatred for the girl who didn't understand crept into her voice.

"You didn't. That's all that matters right now." You could clearly hear the pride in Charlie's voice.

The evening was spent with actions and hardly any words. Bella and I weren't quite ready to discuss verbally what needed to be addressed but for now, emotions were enough. We were taking baby steps.

Due to the light homework load, Bella and I simply went to bed later that evening. We performed our usual nightly rituals before retreating to bed.

-

I spent a few hours tossing and turning my bed that night, unable to sleep. It was around one in the morning when I heard my door slowly creak open and Bella crept in. She was wearing her full length pyjamas, gloves, socks and a hoodie over the top. I was confused until she made her way towards my bed, climbed in next to me and cocooned us both within the duvet.

She was spending the night with me and giving the comfort she knew I needed.

God, I love this girl.

* * *

The next morning was cloudy and overcast but I knew that it would get progressively warmer as the day progressed. I turned towards Bella to inform her of the news when I took in her appearance.

She was slightly flushed, had a red nose and sheen of sweat covering her forehead.

"You're sick." I declared. She frowned unhappily at me in response.

"I'm never sick." She responded stubbornly. Unfortunately for her, her response was contradicted by the whooping sneeze that exploded out of her nose moments later.

"Uh huh." I nodded condescendingly at her which she didn't appear to appreciate.

"I'm still going to school. I'm not letting you face the hyenas by yourself."

There was nothing I could do to persuade her so I silently vowed to keep a precognitive eye on her throughout the day.

-

Bella appeared to be dressing for battle today however; her dressing in dark colours as she was planning to do was not going to help the stares and rumours we would be getting today. She was dressed exactly as a stereotypical bad girl would dress and I had a feeling she knew exactly what she was doing.

I leant against her doorframe and watched as she finished tying up her knee-high black leather boots. "I thought I'd give you a heads up for today but it looks like no matter what I say, you're going to continue dressing like an army brat."

She chuckled in response with a wicked gleam in her eyes.

"I may as well have a little fun with them." She rasped through her abused throat. I shook my head at her and made my way downstairs dressed in a more ordinary outfit.

-

I was right. As soon as we entered the parking lot it was as if a spot light had suddenly shined on us. I had to give this town credit for gossip; news travelled fast.

Bella was grumbling as she exited the cab and I caught a few phrases such as, "drowning" and "strangling". I didn't have to guess who her oaths were aimed at as I caught her sending a particularly nasty glare towards Lauren whose smug expression immediately dissipated under Bella's ferocious glower. It was impressive but not helping with our current situation; people were now looking at her with an even higher feared awe. Bella seemed to realize this at the same time I did for she began muttering under her breath again and her scowl deepened. My mood lifted slightly as I began silently laughing at her again.

I wasn't as discrete as I thought I was though because Bella informed me of the 'manic grin' spread across my face.

"You're scaring them Alice." She informed me with a smug grin of her own. I huffed and stalked off to our first class without her.

My raised spirits were rapidly fading as we entered English only to find Eric Yorkie nervously waiting in the seat next to ours. I saw what he planned to ask me right before I sat down I began frantically finding ways to gently refuse him.

"Hey Alice" he mumbled. I nodded with a polite smile on my face; Bella was smirking at me behind his back.

"I was wondering if you wanted to go to the dance with me?" His voice broke on the last word. I was riddled with pity but not feeling particularly diplomatic, my answer did not come out the way I planned.

"I thought it was the girl's choice?" Bella was shaking with silent laughter now.

"Well…yeah" he looked really uncomfortable. I felt guilty again.

"I'm really sorry Eric but Bella and I are going to be away that weekend." I added in a smile to make him feel better whilst kicking Bella in the shin under the table. He nodded and shuffled dejectedly to his seat. Bella gave me an over enthusiastic thumbs-up.

"You're evil." I mouthed silently to her as class began. She only grinned devilishly at me with one eyebrow raised as if to say, 'And?'

-

I was quite nervous when History class rolled round. I didn't know what to expect from Jasper, would he ignore me?

My worries were unnecessary it seemed. Jasper gave me a tentative smile when I sat down and I returned it in kind.

"Hello Alice, how're you doing today?" the hint of his southern accent was more pronounced than it usually was.

"Hey Jasper, I'm fine. You?" he wasn't repulsed! If anything he was concerned.

"Good." He smiled warmly before class started.

I was definitely in a good mood now. I turned to face the front of the room, feeling buoyant.

-

When it was time for lunch Jasper asked if he could walk me to the cafeteria which I eagerly agreed to. The walk was spent mostly chatting quietly to one another and learning each other better. It was nice and peaceful.

I learned that he was born in the south and that Mrs Cullen took in him and Rosalie when they were very young, he said that she was a true mother to all of them.

There was something off about his story, but I couldn't figure out what it was. I shrugged off the feeling for now, simply enjoying his company while I could; I didn't know when it would end.

He asked questions about myself and some about my sister. He never asked about the incident Lauren had spread around school for which I was grateful. I still wasn't ready to speak of it.

"You and Bella aren't actually sisters?" he inquired softly.

"Not by blood, we are sisters in all other ways" I smiled at him in reassurance that this topic was not off limits; Close, but not completely forbidden.

He nodded thoughtfully, "When were you…?"

"Adopted?" he nodded and I continued, "When I was eleven. It's a very complicated story and not one we like to speak about but… Bella and I found each other you could say. In a park and Renee took me in. We've been together ever since." I was bending the truth a little but at least I wasn't outright lying. He seemed to read my hesitance and changed the subject to lighter topics.

-

We had just reached the doors to the cafeteria when I noticed Bella standing just beyond them with Tyler Crowley blocking her route to the lunch-line. Due to her expression I gathered that it was not a conversation she was particularly enjoying. I glanced sideways at Jasper and saw him attempting to smother his amusement; he looked as though he could hear what was being said between them.

I marched through the doors in time to hear Bella refusing Tyler's invitation to the dance as politely as she could.

"Sorry Tyler," she didn't sound sorry in the slightest, "I'm going away that weekend."

"Oh, I know that's what Mike said." Tyler didn't seem to be affected by her frostiness.

"Then why…?" Bella looked torn between being confused and irritated.

"I thought you were letting him down easy." He shrugged casually.

Irritation was winning in her expression. It was fun to watch.

"I wasn't." Bella's voice had lost all cordiality.

"That's cool, we still have prom." And with that he swaggered off to his lunch table leaving Bella with the funniest expression on her face.

I couldn't hold it in any longer and I burst out laughing.

Bella glared at me but the effect was ruined by her having a coughing fit. Once she had finished I took a better look at her and felt ashamed with myself for not noticing sooner.

She looked awful. Her face was covered in a nearly reflective sheen of sweat, she was paler than usual and her nose now resembled Rudolph's.

"Bells, you look awful." I said in a strained voice. Instead of denying it she simply waved her hand.

"I feel it." was all she replied with before resting her head on her folded arms on the lunch table. We had sat as far away from our lunch group as possible in order to give ourselves and Bella's head some peace.

"What hurts honey?" I didn't like seeing her like this.

"Everything." She moaned lightly, lifting her head a little. She looked slightly green.

Before I could ask her what she was doing, she had stripped off her gloves, discarded them on the table in front of her and was attempting to waft cold air over any available areas of uncovered skin. _'She's never done _that_ before, what the hell is wrong?!'_

"Bella?" I inquired with alarm lacing my tone.

Before she could answer me, I was wrenched into a vision that nearly sent me into a full blown panic.

-

_Anna-Marie, a girl in the year below us was going to run into the cafeteria. Skid, slip and crash into the lunch table closest to the door. She would hit her head on the corner of the table and a lot of blood would escape the wound. It wouldn't be serious, head wounds always bleed a lot. However, blood was blood and as soon as the smell reached Bella she would be vomiting the full contents of her stomach._

Straight after that one finished I was accosted with another.

_Edward Cullen was chasing after my sister as she bolted for the door._

_-_

The Bell rang back in the present and I realised I was surrounded by the curious and concerned faces of my peers.

"I'm fine, just zoned out I guess." I muttered quickly before turning urgently towards Bella who was now staring at me, half conscious but still managing to look worried.

"Run. Now" I choked out.

She was startled out of her dazed state and took a moment to look at my panicked expression.

The cafeteria doors opened, Anna-Marie came skidding across the floor heading in an unavoidable crash course to the nearest lunch table.

Bella ran like the devil himself was chasing her.

Edward Cullen followed as if he'd heard and understood the entire interaction from across the cafeteria.

I turned my gaze towards the lunch table I was sat at, and saw the gloves Bella had left behind in her panic.

I snatched the gloves and desperately searched the cafeteria doors.

Shit. This was bad.

* * *

***~Bella~*  
**

I felt like crap.

I had a headache, sore throat, nausea, overheated skin and aching limbs. Why did I have to choose today to be this stubborn?

I was desperate enough to remove my gloves, which I _never_ do in public.

-

I was being lulled into a semi-conscious state of mind when Alice's face clouded in a vacant expression. She was having a vision, and when I registered the horror in her expression and the way she was looking at me, I realised that it was bad and I was included in it. _'Aren't I always?'_

"Run. Now" She choked out, looking around wildly. I paused slightly not really understanding but knowing that trouble was on its way.

I saw Anna-Marie burst into the cafeteria and headed for the nearest table in what appeared to be a crash course.

I understood. Blood and vomit.

I ran out of there as fast as my unsteady legs could carry me. I did not fancy the prospect of vomit thank you very much.

I realised as I was hurtling around the corner that I was being followed and I would bet money that I knew who it was.

He was ghosting down the corridors after me, keeping up with me easily. Not that I was running that fast anyway; I was most likely staggering like a drunk judging by the way I was feeling. My heart was hammering in my ears and my vision was beginning to swim.

-

It seemed as though out of nowhere a pale and icy hand shot out and latched onto my wrist; my bare, uncovered wrist.

Shit. This was bad.

I clenched my eyes shut and waited for the choking and gasping for breath as the life was slowly drained out of his body and into mine.

-

It never came.

Instead, there was a strange feeling of static energy racing through our joined limbs. I opened my eyes to see Edward's own, wide and staring curiously at our touching skin. His eyes snapped up to meet mine, gold and brown staring fixedly and unwaveringly.

That was until I heard the noise. Pure and cripplingly painful white noise.

It started as a tickle in the back of my mind. It grew and grew until hundreds of voices were screaming in my head.

I screeched and dropped to the ground like a rock, clutching my head and clenching my eyes tight shut once again.

"Bella?" Edward's voice sounded in my ear clear and full of alarm and, fear? However, as soon as his skin was removed from mine the voices faded until there was utter silence in my mind.

-

I opened my eyes and stared at him with absolute wonder. He touched me. He touched me and lived to tell the tale; he gave me one hell of a headache for a moment - making my previous one seem like nothing – but he was alive and unharmed. I smiled brilliantly at him, my eyes still brimming with awe for this incredible and confusing boy.

He smiled back at me and reached forward as if to touch me again.

-

Alice raced around the corner, speeding towards me like a bullet with Jasper hot on her heels. They both came to a stop next to us and Alice's eyes widened when she noticed our positions on the floor and without damage.

She inconspicuously passed me my gloves and helped me off the floor.

"I can take her from here thanks." She said to Edward, smiling innocently at him.

"Of course." He murmured, lifting himself off the floor with impossible grace and fluidity. "Shall we Jasper?"

Jasper nodded and with one last look towards us, they both headed back down the corridor murmuring too quickly and quietly to each other for us to hear.

-

I opened my mouth to inform her of what happened when she quickly interrupted before I could speak, "Not here, wait until we're home." I nodded confusedly.

Alice managed to charm the nurse into letting the both of us leave school early, vaulting up the angelic charm to the maximum.

-

In our distracted but purposeful state we were both completely unwitting of the stares we were still receiving and the rumours that had yet to reach our ears.

-

We reached the house faster then usual seeing as Alice was driving and she pushed the truck to its limit.

When we arrived at the house instead of our little meeting taking place in Alice's bedroom, we retreated to mine.

We sat on my bed facing one another. There was a slight pause before Alice opened her mouth, "Speak."

I couldn't help but chuckle slightly at the way she said it but none the less I brought her up to date on what had transpired between Edward and I; the motions and emotions and most importantly the fact that he was unharmed when he touched my skin. I also told her of the voices I heard in my head when he touched me.

She had a thoughtful expression upon here face again, "Well it seems to be official now. Our suspicions were correct, Edward can read minds."

"But how could he touch me when no one else can? It doesn't seem…"

"Human?" she was looking slightly doubtful but not totally opposed to the idea.

"Think about it Alice. You said it yourself! The similarities between all of them even though they're not all related, the speed, the strength…"

"Heightened senses?" She interrupted suddenly. At my questioning look she elaborated, "When I told you to 'run' and whenever we're speaking it always seems as though they can hear every word. Haven't you noticed?"

I nodded. I _had_ actually noticed but hadn't really thought about it.

-

We continued to bounce ideas off each other for the rest of the afternoon before recognising the growing pile of homework.

It was later, alone in my bed when I finally let my mind wonder back to mine and Alice's conversation. Before drifting into dreamland I had one conscious thought constantly swimming around in my head.

'_If the Cullen's weren't human, then what on earth were they?'_

* * *

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	11. Good enough

A/N: It's been a bit of a gap between this upload and the last i know. School's been busy and i've been ill. sorry. Thanks to reviewers and new favouriters and alerters! it's much appreciated. I quite like this chapter, hope you do too so enjoy :)

* * *

**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing**

Butterflies and Hurricanes

Chapter 11

***~Bella~***

The next morning Charlie joined Alice and I for breakfast. Unable to take a full day off work, he decided to go in for half a day instead. I shook my head in mock sadness; he truly appeared to be married to his job. Besides the god awful mood I was in, I was feeling a lot better than the previous day and insisted I was well enough for school.

Truthfully, I wanted to see Edward again.

Alice's expression told me I was fooling no one with the 'importance of education' crap.

About halfway through my bowl of cheerio's Alice cleared her throat and informed Charlie of our planned escape from the spring dance. Unfortunately, he decided that that particular day was unsafe for us to be travelling alone.

"Are you sure? Seattle is a big place. You could get lost or attacked." He fretted.

I raised my eyebrows and let a sardonic smile twist half of my mouth upwards, while Alice answered his worries by fully turning in my direction and tapping her forehead knowingly at him while winking at me.

Charlie got the point fairly quickly but his eyebrows were still scrunched in concern. It felt nice to know someone cared but in all seriousness, his worry was unnecessary. _'Maybe it was a parent thing.'_

_-_

The ride to school was fairly uneventful, Alice tried to convince me to let her drive but I was adamant; besides, she'd end up breaking the poor vehicle attempting to exceed the speed limits.

"You should probably be more careful with you're thoughts." I mentioned casually as we neared the tiny school.

"Already taken care of," she assured me confidently "We wouldn't want them to have the upper hand now would we?" she teased with a grin.

"No, we wouldn't" I muttered softly, a faint bitterness lacing my tone that even I could hear.

Alice acted as though she hadn't heard me.

I found a parking spot fairly quickly and climbed out of the cab. I fumbled with the keys and it fell into a puddle at my feet. I sighed and bent down to retrieve them but a white hand flashed out and grabbed them before I could. I jerked upright in surprise only to see Edward Cullen leaning casually against the side of the truck in all his perfection.

"How do you do that?" I asked in amazed irritation.

"Do what?" He handed me the keys as he spoke, dropping them into my open palm.

"Appear out of thin air." I stated this as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Bella, it's not my fault you are exceptionally unobservant." His voice was quiet as usual – soft as velvet.

I scowled up at his perfect face and glared into his eyes – which were a lighter honey today.

I then had to look elsewhere in order to reassemble my now bundled thoughts. I swept my gaze around the parking lot to find Alice only to notice that she had mysteriously disappeared.

'_Traitor!' _I growled in my head.

"Why the sudden desire to speak to me again? I thought you were supposed to be pretending I don't exist, not irritating me to death." _'Stupid mind reading - I don't know what you are – Cullen'_.

"Can't I check to see if someone is alright? Last I saw you were rather ill…" he trailed off and looked down at me with an amused smile quirking his flawless lips. I narrowed my eyes at him which only seemed to amuse him further.

"And I'm not pretending you don't exist." He continued.

"So you _are_ trying to irritate me to death? Since the van didn't do the job!"

Anger flashed within his tawny eyes, his lips pressed into a hard line and all traces of humour gone.

"Bella, you are utterly absurd." He said in a quiet but cold voice.

'_Oh if only my touch hurt you Edward Cullen…' - _I didn't really mean that but my gloved hands twitched nonetheless. I quickly arranged my expression into a hard mask, breathed heavily through my nose and stalked away from him before I did something I would _greatly_ regret later.

"Wait!" He called, and was suddenly by my side, easily keeping pace as I continued sloshing angrily through the many puddles littering the walkway.

"I am sorry," he apologized but I ignored him, "It was rude, not untrue, but rude to say anyway."

"Why won't you leave me alone?" I grumbled, desperately wishing Alice would come rescue me.

He chuckled, seeming to have recovered his good humour, "I wanted to ask you something but you sidetracked me."

"Do you have multiple personality disorder, or maybe Bipolar?" I voiced my thoughts from the first time we met.

"You're doing it again." He pointed out.

I sighed. "Fine, what do you want to ask?"

"I was wondering if, a week from Saturday – you know, the day of the spring dance-"

I cut him off, making a sound like a choking animal, "Are you trying to be _funny_?" I stopped dead in my tracks and glared at him furiously. He seemed taken aback by the force of my anger but his eyes were wickedly amused.

"Will you please allow me to finish?" he asked as Alice came hurtling around the corner with wide eyes.

I bit my lip and interlocked my fingers, pressing my tingling palms together behind my back so I wouldn't do anything rash. Alice was briskly walking towards us with a disapproving glare at Edwards back. _'What, did she see me kicking the crap out of this perfect looking ass?'_ He certainly _had_ a perfect looking ass… _'STOP IT BELLA!'_

"I heard you were going to Seattle that day, and I was wondering if you wanted a ride." Despite my bad mood I had to smother a small smile. No one but ourselves and Charlie knew that Alice and I were planning on going to Seattle; everyone else thought we were just going 'away'.

Then the rest of what he said registered.

"What?" I couldn't have heard correctly.

"Do you want a ride to Seattle?"

"With who?" I asked, mystified.  
"Myself, obviously." He spoke as if talking to someone who was mentally handicapped, enunciating each word.

Irritation crept in again, "_Why_ would you do that?" was it some kind of joke?

"I'm not sure if your truck can make the journey and besides, I'm going to Seattle in the next few weeks anyway."

"The truck is perfectly fine thank you and I don't see how this is any of your business." I replied curtly and continued walking again.

"The wasting of finite sources is everyone's business." He kept pace with me easily, I rolled my eyes sceptically; why was he being so pushy?

"Honestly, Edward." I hated the thrill that rushed through me as I uttered his name; I mentally slapped myself again for abominably acting like a teenage girl. "I can't keep up with you. I thought you didn't want to be my friend."

"I said it would be better if we weren't friends, not that I didn't want to be."

"Oh, now that's _all _cleared up!" my voice was heavy with sarcasm. We were under the shelter of the English building now and I tilted my head upwards in order to see his face and read his expression.

This did not help my clarity of thought, whatsoever.

"It would be more…prudent for you not to be my friend," he explained. "But I'm tired of trying to stay away from you, Bella."

His eyes were gloriously intense as he uttered that last sentence and I felt as though he saw straight through me and into my soul, his voice was smouldering and obscuring my senses in the most pleasant way.

"Will you go with me to Seattle?" he asked, with the same level of intensity.

I couldn't speak, heck I couldn't even breathe. I was saved from answering however, as Alice appeared by my side at that moment and answered for the both of us.

"We'd love to!" she beamed at him with a glint in her eye I couldn't quite care to understand.

He smiled briefly at the two of us, a beautiful crooked smile that did not help my current attempts at remembering the process of respiration. Then his face abruptly became serious.

"You really _should_ stay away from us," he warned the two of us before directing his next comment at me. "I'll see you in class."

He whirled around and stalked back down the path we had just come.

'_What the hell?'_ I thought, still dazed.

-

"Come on, we should head to class, we're already late." Alice murmured, guiding me by the arm.

I blinked, and then frowned down at her. "Where the hell have you been?" I accused shakily. _'Get a grip Swan!'_ I admonished myself.

Alice shifted her eyes slightly and got an uncharacteristically sheepish look on her face.

"I, uhh… I had some things to do." She explained lamely.

"Things?" I repeated sourly. "You left me to face the big bad wolf alone because you had some _things_ to do?" I was particularly miffed that she could have prevented me from making a complete fool out of myself. She nodded and pulled me faster towards the English classroom. I looked down at her again only to see her blushing slightly._ 'Since when does Alice _blush_?'_ I thought completely bewildered.

Then it clicked.

I gasped and stared at her with wide eyes. Hearing my gasp Alice whipped her head around and stared at me with a wild expression when she registered my own.

"You were with Jasper!" I accused, more amused than affronted.

She was acting like the kid caught with their hand in the cookie jar; it was quite a funny comparison, so I laughed.

"Thank you for joining us ladies." Mr Mason said in an annoyed tone, saving Alice from my attack.

Still chortling, I casually followed Alice to our seats.

-

It wasn't until the end of the lesson that I noticed than mine and Alice's admirers were not sat next to us as they usually did. I perhaps should have felt slightly guilty, but I didn't.

However, Mike caught up to us as we left English and walked with us to next lesson so I figured we were _'forgiven'_. He became more animated as we walked, chatting non stop about the beach trip this weekend he desperately wanted us to come to.

"Sure," I answered half heartedly after sharing a brief glance with Alice. "Why not?"

"Awe-some" he beamed, lengthening the phrase into two words.

'_I bet it is'_ I thought with a wry grin. _'I just can't wait'_.

* * *

***~Alice~***

Being a little more reliable than the local weather man, I knew that the rain was going to let up this weekend making the beach trip possible.

"It's going to be a nice weekend, quite sunny." I informed Bella quietly as we walked to our next class. She nodded and grimaced slightly, knowing she had no excuse not to go now.

I know she was still a little upset that I wasn't there for her this morning, but I honestly didn't see it coming. Also, I was otherwise _occupied._

Bella was right, embarrassingly enough. I _was_ with Jasper and my conversation with him had been similar to Edwards and Bella's. I'd approached him after exiting the cab, noticing him stood alone and staring in my direction. We'd greeted each other as usual but he was looking at me with longing and pain.

-

"_We shouldn't be friends"_ He'd said. I frowned slightly, remembering his words exactly.

"_Why?"_ I asked in a hurt voice.

"_I'm not a good friend for you."_

"_You are. You _are_ Jasper." _I insisted, annoyed that he would think so little of himself. Usually it was the other way around. People didn't want to be friends with Bella and I, because of _us._

"_What if I'm not who you think I am?"_ he demanded looking pained again.

"_You're not. I know who you are."_ He was beginning to eye me wearily.

"_Have you ever stopped to think that maybe, just maybe, not everything is as it seems?"_ I spoke through clenched teeth, laced with hurt. Before I had turned my back and stormed away to find Bella with tears stinging my ducts, I released the observation that proved how much I was aware of him and left him dumbfounded, _"You have four scars on your face, the one above you're left eyebrow is particularly difficult to see." _

I rounded the corner only to find Bella having her own conversation with Edward, and she didn't look particularly happy.

I chuckled, remembering Bella's face as Edward walked away from us.

-

The rest of the morning passed in a bit of a blur, until I got to History; my one class with Jasper.

After our disagreement this morning, I wasn't sure how he was going to react so I shuffled to my seat keeping my eyes firmly away from him. _'Does he think I'm some crazy stalker?'._

He was silent for a moment before he murmured in his quiet voice of warm honey, "I'm sorry Alice."

I glanced up at his from under my lashes. His golden eyes held conflicting emotions and he looked at a loss of what to do. He was beautiful.

"I don't want to stay away from you," he continued in a tortured voice.

"Then don't." I whispered.

"You don't know what you're saying." I sighed, while his expression belied his tone.

"I would," I insisted. "If you'd let me."

He stared at me intensely with an unfathomable expression clouding his ethereal features and said no more as the lesson had begun.

-

When the bell ended, signalling the end of the lesson I turned my head to speak to him again.

But his seat was empty.

I swept my gaze around the room but he was nowhere in sight; he'd already gone. Riddled with disappointment, I sighed unhappily and headed for the cafeteria to find my sister.

-

When I entered the lunch room however, it was to find my sister sat with none other than Edward Cullen at a vacant table away from the rest of the student population. I shook my head slightly with a smile and reminded myself for warn Bella of the blood-typing assignment Mr Banner suddenly decided to spring on his students next lesson. She would definitely want to miss that.

Unexpectedly, Edward's gaze flashed to meet mine as the thought of blood-typing crossed my mind; he looked away just as quickly as he'd glanced at me but it was quick enough to notice the alarm in his eyes.

'_How strange, maybe he dislikes blood also'_ I thought to myself while I began focussing on the beach trip this weekend to keep Edward out of my head.

I grabbed some lunch and sat next to our usual lunch companions. Still throwing questioning glances in Bella and Edward's direction I turned towards Jessica, "Why-?"

"I don't know." She interrupted me in a hard voice practically overflowing with irrational jealousy, and most likely anticipating my question. The majority of the student body were staring their way; Lauren should be, by all rights green with envy.

"Doesn't he know what she-", her shrill voice was beginning to travel and I saw Bella's shoulders stiffen.

I cut the pathetic bimbo off before she could finish her sentence; I wasn't sure if I could restrain Bella a second time… or help her. "Finish that sentence Lauren," I began ominously. "And you will regret it for the rest of your life."

My threat seemed to have reached home for she paled slightly and glanced once more in Bella's direction before hurriedly striking up a conversation with Connor. _'Good girl' _I thought lowly.

I began absent-mindedly chewing on my not so nutritious cafeteria food while curiously observing my sisters interactions with Edward Cullen.

* * *

***~Bella~***

The morning sped past in a mix of colours and meaningless conversation. I was having a difficult time believing what Edward had said earlier, and the way his eyes had looked. Perhaps this was an extremely convincing dream I had confused with reality, heaven knows I dream about the boy far too much already. I definitely couldn't possibly appeal to him on any level other than our similar apparent desire for social alienation.

This train of thought resulted in my impatience and nerves as Jessica and I entered the cafeteria. I figured that I could just read his face to see whether he was serious or not or if he had returned to the cold, indifferent being I had become accustomed to these past weeks. Or, if my mind had indeed not being over imaginative this morning.

Jessica continued to babble as usual about her plans for the dance, completely unaware of my lack of attention to her annoying verbal flow. Earlier I had, (slyly, in my opinion) suggested to Jessica that Lauren - the bitch face - Mallory should ask Tyler to the dance, I'd heard he was single; and that Angela – kind and quiet – Weber, could ask Eric. Alice had been ever so thankful afterwards and had informed me that the girls would ask and be accepted. Excellent.

Disappointment surged through me as my eyes zeroed in on the Cullen table situated in the corner of the room. The others were there, but he was not; had he gone home? I followed the still blabbering Jessica through the lunch line now in a foul mood. I bought nothing but lemonade, prepared to transcend into an almighty sulk and listen to death metal; no one was safe. Except maybe Alice.

-

I was pouting at the table top, ferociously glaring at the laps of everyone in sight as they attempted to include me in conversation, when Jessica tentatively elbowed my ribs and said, "Edward Cullen is staring at you again," Saving herself from my wrath and capturing my attention by uttering his name. "I wonder why he's sitting alone today."

My head snapped up and I followed her gaze to where Edward certainly was sitting in all his pale skinned glory, a crooked smile upon his beautiful face as he stared at me from across the cafeteria at a usually empty table. Once he caught my eye he raised one hand and crooked his index finger in a 'come here' gesture. As I stared at him with bare faced incredulity, he winked. _'He winked at me!' _I thought in disbelief.

"Does he mean you?" Jessica asked with insulting astonishment. I levelled a hard gaze towards her for a moment before answering.

"Perhaps he wishes for me to describe the inner workings of your mind to him, he's _that_ enamoured with you." I uttered solemnly with a mocking edge. _'He wouldn't need _me_ to tell him how her mind works. He probably has to listen to her all day long, poor guy.'_

I could feel her staring after me as I ambled towards Edward.

-

When I reached his table I hesitated behind the chair opposite him, unsure of what to do.

"Why don't you sit with me today?" he asked with a smile, simultaneously kicking the chair in front of me away from the table.

I sat down cautiously and watched him warily. He was still smiling; how could so beautiful be real? I was afraid he would suddenly disappear in a puff of smoke and I would suddenly wake up to reality. He seemed to be waiting for me to speak first.

"'Sup?" I said, nodding my head a little and imagining tumble weed blowing across our table to a slight breeze. "This is…different." I continued awkwardly.

"Well…" he paused before rushing out the rest of his sentence in a breath of attractive vocal noises, "I decided that as long as I was going to hell, I may as well do it thoroughly."

'_What the figurative hell?'_

My mind went completely silent for a moment before I said something completely off topic and what my brain filter managed to let escape.

"What did you do that would warrant such a fate?"

He stared blankly at me for a moment before throwing his head back and erupting in enchanting laughter that very nearly sent me into hyperventilation. I soon realised everyone was staring bemusedly at us and that the rest of the female population were in a similar state to myself. I mentally slapped myself again. Edward returned to a sitting position and wiped his curiously tearless eyes, still chuckling quietly. I waited patiently for him to recover from his mirth and to latch onto his composure again.

He smiled at me and changed the subject and effectively avoiding my question, however bizarre the question was. "I think your friends are angry at me for stealing you."

"I don't have friends, I have Alice." I said automatically then amended slightly before he could question me about that, "They'll survive." I could feel all of their stares boring into my back.

He tilted his head to one side slightly and raised his eyebrows an inch, but said nothing to my previous comment. "I may not give you back though." He said with a wicked glint in his eye.

"That's fine. I'll just call Alice over here," I paused before grinning slyly at him, "You can bring Jasper of course." He looked a bit surprised and a little bit happy which in turn, made my grin widen.

He sighed, "I give up."

"Give up?" I repeated in confusion.

"Yes, giving up trying to be good. I'm just going to do what I want now and let the chips fall where they may." A hard edge crept into his voice as he spoke and all traces of amusement drained from his expression.

"You've lost me."

The breathtaking crooked smile reappeared. _'Jesus, he really _is_ bipolar.'_

"I always say too much when I'm speaking to you – that's one of the problems."

"Don't worry - I don't understand any of it." I assured him wryly.

"I'm counting on that."

"Why?" I asked curiously.

He sighed again and sounded older than he looked when he spoke again, "We can try to be friends Bella, but I'm warning you – I'm not a good friend for you." The intense look returned, he was still smiling slightly but behind that, the warning was clearly real.

"I've never been a good friend." I said casually. "Did you ever think that maybe I'm no good for you?" I raised my right eyebrow and gave him a self mocking smile he would not understand.

I was right, he didn't understand. In fact, he looked slightly angered that I would think that.

"You're not." He said firmly.

"Neither are you."

He breathed heavily through his nose, sat back in his chair and frowned at me.

"If you were smart, you'd stay away from me." He persisted, annoying me with both his insistence and what he was insinuating.

"I believe you've made your opinion on the subject of my intellect clear too." I uttered lowly with narrowed eyes.

He smiled apologetically.

"So… I guess, as long as I'm being not smart, we'll try to be friends?" I attempted to sum up feeling like a five year old asking for her first friend.

"That sounds about right." He nodded his head, staring at me curiously.

I looked down at my hands wrapped around the lemonade bottle, unsure of what to do or say.

-

"What are you thinking?" Edward asked curiously. I looked up into his deep golden eyes, became slightly befuddled and almost blurted out the truth. Almost.

'_Oh no you don't, you aren't getting inside _this_ head.'_

Instead, I blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

"The square root of pi."

"Really?" He was genuinely curious. Oh dear.

"I love maths." I choked out, struggling to sound convincing with a disgusted grimace on my face. He didn't look convinced, I wasn't particularly surprised but damn him to the fiery pits of Hades because he didn't let the matter go.

"Won't you tell me?" he asked, tilting his head to the side with a shockingly tempting smile.

'_Resist, Swan! Resist this ridiculously persuasive demon!'_

I shook my head vehemently.

"That's _really_ frustrating you know," He complained.

"No," I contradicted, my eyes narrowing into slits, "I cannot _imagine_ why that would be frustrating at all – just because someone refused to tell you what they are thinking, especially if they keep making cryptic little remarks designed to keep you up at night wondering what they could possibly mean… now, why would that be frustrating?" I was almost out of breath by the time I had finished and my chest was heaving.

Edward grimaced.

"Or better yet," I continued having let loose the flood gates of my pent up annoyance, "say that person did a range of bizarre things – from saving your life under impossible circumstances one day to treating you to the cold shoulder the next. Never explaining himself even after he promised. That also, would be _very _non-frustrating would it not?"

"You've got a bit of a temper, don't you?"

"No, not usually, I just don't like double-standards." I get enough of them elsewhere thank you.

We stared at each other, unsmiling.

He glanced over my shoulder, then unexpectedly snickered.

"What?" I asked annoyed but still curious to what amused him.

"Your boyfriend seems to think I'm being unpleasant to you – he's debating whether on not to come over and break up our fight." He sniggered. The only way he could know that was if he either heard this from across the cafeteria or from the thoughts. I decided to go with the latter but filed away this observation for later.

"I have no boyfriend. I'm sure you're wrong anyway." I said frostily, knowing the probability he was referring to the retriever.

"I'm not. Most people are easy to read remember?"

"Except me." I rubbed this fact in his face a little without letting him know I knew how he was such a good _reader_.

"Yes," his mood shifted abruptly, his eyes turning brooding. "I wonder why that is."

I avoided his penetrating stare by focusing the entirety of my attention on unscrewing my bottle lid and taking a swig of it's bubbly substance.

-

"Aren't you hungry?" He asked, distracted.

"No. Are you?" I focussed on the empty space in front of him.

"No, I am not hungry." His tone and expression were laced with amusement – like he was enjoying a private joke I didn't understand.

After a few moments of silence, I asked the question that had been bugging me all morning.

"Why did you say that I should stay away from you?"

He looked conflicted before he answered, "What if I'm not the person you think I am Bella? What if I'm the bad guy?" His eyes were impenetrable.

"Oh," I said as several of his hints fell into place. "I see."

"Do you?" His face was abruptly severe, as though he regretted making me aware but relieved at the same time.

"You're dangerous?" I guessed, leaning back in my seat, my pulse quickening slightly as the truth of what I said dawned on me. He _was_ dangerous and he'd been trying to tell me it all along.

He just looked at me sadly, with eyes full of some other emotion I couldn't comprehend.

"But not bad," I continued, shaking my head. "I don't believe you're bad."

"You're wrong." His words were almost inaudible. He was looking down and he reached out quickly to steal my bottle lid, spinning it between his long nimble pianist fingers. I wouldn't be surprised if he played.

"I don't think I am Edward," I disagreed, thrilling to his name rolling off my tongue once again and wondering why I wasn't afraid. "I'm not comfortable with many, if _any _people. But with you…" I trailed off, realising why I wasn't really that frightened. I was fascinated definitely, but there was a chord that struck within when I was with him and something about him made me feel…whole. At peace; home.

He was about to say something else when I realised that the cafeteria was steadily emptying and Alice was rapidly skipping to my side with a concerned and thoughtful expression clouding her features. She dipped her head a few inches to level with mine and whispered quickly and quietly in my ear.

"Mr Banner changed his plans in biology today," her tone mirrored her expression. "He's suddenly planned blood typing and I don't know how to get you out of it."

I looked at her in alarm. I glanced subtly in Edward's direction to see his reaction to our exchange; he looked as though he had heard Alice's information clearly as I had.

Interesting…

His expression also seemed to mirror my exact sentiments; _'crap, what the hell do I do?'_

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**A/N: You know the drill. Please review and tell me what you think, i like knowing if i'm doing right or wrong :) *smiles persuasive Edward smile...*****you know you wanna...**_ VV  
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	12. Run away from trouble

A/N: Sorry it took so long. School work is building and it takes prescenence unfortunately :/

This chapter was slightly difficult to write for reasons i'm trying to figure out. I think it's because it's fairly close to the book with variations of my own due to this Bella's past. Sooo... sorry :)

I will try to update regularly but i'm sure you all understand how it is haha. :|

Enjoy!

**disclaimer: as ever, i own nothing.**

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Chapter 12

***~Bella~***

I looked carefully at Edward and took a moment to read his expression before my mouth decided to move without instruction from my brain.

"Wanna ditch?"

Alice stared at me like I had removed one of my gloves and slapped her on the cheek with it; her expression clearly screamed, _'what about me?'_

I felt slightly guilty, so I made plans to give verbal lashing to my unpredictable and uncooperative psych later. Before Edward could answer however, Alice cut in.

"Well whatever you do Bella, I have to get to class now anyway. See you later." And without a glance backwards, she stalked out of the cafeteria doors where Jasper was waiting patiently for her and off to her lesson. _'Whipped.'_

Despite feeling a little wounded that I'd chosen Edward as my bunking buddy, I knew Alice wasn't really upset. She was going to drag it out, give me the silent treatment to make me feel guilty and finally spring a way to 'make it up' to her later; a scheme that usually consists of shopping which she knows I despise.

I looked back to Edward with a grimace and awaited his response.

His flawless features were shadowed in thought and his eyes darkened in contemplation, as though he was attempting to make a difficult decision.

Finally he looked up and smiled crookedly at me, making my heart want to leap out of my chest. _'Stupid organ,'_ I growled internally while outwardly showing no sign I was insulting myself.

"Where would you like to go?"

"I don't care, anywhere but here." I replied, feeling a little relieved and slinging my bag over one shoulder and bee-lining for the exit.

I heard Edward chuckle lightly behind me and follow me out the cafeteria doors.

-

I marched out onto the parking lot but before I could escape to the warmth of the truck Edward grabbed the back of my jacket and began towing me towards the office.

"Wha-?" I began confusedly, whirling my arms around ridiculously like a windmill.

"We're going to have to come up with an excuse, otherwise we won't be able to leave… unless you want it on your record?" he asked with a raised brow, looking down at my upturned face amusedly; "I thought so." He finished in response to my expression, no doubt.

Before I could say anything else, Edward swooped down, knocked his forearm against the backs of my knees and swept me into his arms and therefore completely ruining any romantic intent.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" I half shrieked, but he merely shushed me and continued striding towards the office building as though I weighed no more than a bag of feathers.

"You nearly collapsed in biology and I'm taking you home." He informed me and I had to rewind my memory a little in order to understand what he was referring to.

"Ah, I understand" I said, grasping his meaning and adopting a 'damsel in distress' expression, hamming it up just a little.

I wasn't the only one.

Edward barged through the office doors over dramatically with me in his arms, acting as though he rescued me from a burning building. He placed me gently on my feet, whispered lowly in my ear, "Go sit down by the wall and look pale," Before swooping towards the desk where Mrs Cope was fluttering frantically, like an overgrown bat.

"Not a problem." I murmured, desperately trying to smother the hysterical laughter that wanted to burst forth, and slouched over to the waiting room chairs; my skin was more or less translucent anyway, faking illness would be easy.

"Mrs Cope?" Edward murmured attractively and I got a mental image of him leaning over the desk with his forearms resting on the surface, a ridiculously charming expression on his face…

"Yes Edward?" she answered him, still sounding extremely flustered but thankfully cutting off my mental imaginings before things could progress too far.

"Bella isn't feeling very well, we're blood typing, and I was wondering if you could perhaps let me take her home? As you can see, she doesn't look too well."

Mrs Cope didn't have a chance in hell if his face was as appealing as his voice sounded, especially if he had unleashed the irresistible force of his eyes on her…

"Do you need to be excused too Edward?" the woman simpered, completely won over.

'_Why can't I do that?'_ I thought grumpily, annoyed that his persuasion techniques were obviously more effective than mine could be.

"No, I have Mrs. Goff next lesson, she won't mind"

"Okay, it's taken care of. You feel better soon Bella!" She called to me; I nodded weakly, feeling as though I should win some sort of award for my performance.

"Can you walk, or do you want me to carry you again?" With his back to the receptionist, Edward's expression became sarcastic.

'_Okay, maybe not an _award_…'_

"I can walk thanks," I sniffed, nearly forgetting my role in face of Edward's mockery.

-

We walked out of the school office and into the cold, fine mist that had begun to fall. It felt nice against my skin as I lifted my face skywards and inhaled deeply through my nose.

"Ah! freedom!" I turned to face Edward who was watching my antics with a slight smile and an unfathomable emotion swimming in the golden depths of his eyes.

"Thanks for that, I get to miss gym too," I said with a grin.

"Anytime," he replied, staring straight forward again and squinting into the rain.

I veered left, heading towards my van before realising that I wasn't moving as Edward had grabbed hold of my elbow and was holding me in place.

"Where do you think your going?" He demanded, sounding outraged.

"I'm going to my truck," I answered, understandably confused, "Alice is going to need the keys in order to get home," I added, realising belatedly that if I took the truck, Alice wouldn't be able to get home.

"Oh." He released my elbow and to my bemusement, accompanied me to the vehicle.

I discretely rubbed the spot on my elbow where he had been holding, that was going to bruise.

"Sorry," he said sheepishly, noticing my not so discrete massage of my elbow.

-

We arrived at the door to the truck and I concentrated, making a conscious decision that Alice wouldn't fail to see; I envisioned myself pulling open the door and placing the keys in the glove box before exiting the truck.

"There," I announced, only to realise I hadn't physically moved and Edward was looking at me curiously with raised eyebrows. I uncharacteristically flushed in slight mortification and hurriedly carried out the action I had imagined.

"Well, bye then!" I waved at Edward and began the journey back to Charlie's house on foot, trying not to think of the long walk and the many puddles sure to be littering the roads.

"Where do you think you're going?" Edward repeated, only this time sounding thoroughly amused.

I looked back at him in confusion.

He smiled somewhat gently at me and called, "I'm not going to let you walk home in the rain Bella."

"Huh?" was my spectacular response, his eyes glittered and his smile only widened.

"Come on," he beckoned, "I'm giving you a lift home."

* * *

I felt a little intimidated by Edward's car. It was the shiny silver Volvo and the interior was light grey leather; someone obviously had money. I looked like a half drowned cat sitting in his precious car, with wet hair seeping down my shoulder blades and squeaky boots, but he didn't seem bothered by it. I tried to relax as he fiddled with the controls, turning the heater up and the music down, which I recognised as one of my classical favourites.

"Clair de Lune?" I asked, surprised.

"You know Debussy?" He sounded surprised too, and a little pleased; the average teenager doesn't really listen to classical music nowadays.

"Not well," I admitted, "My mother likes to play classical music around the house – I only know my favourites."

"It's one of my favourites too," he said quietly, staring out into the rain lost in thought.

I relaxed against the leather seat, responding to the familiar relaxing melody. The surrounding forests of forks were a rush of grey and green smudges through the blur of rain. Noticing the town flashing past the windows, I began to realise that Edward was driving very fast; but with the steady and even movement of the car, it was impossible to tell unless you peered out of the windows.

"What's your mother like?" Edward suddenly asked, cutting off my current train of thought. I looked over to find him studying me curiously.

"She looks like an older version of me, only prettier," He raised his eyebrows at that, "I have a lot of Charlie in me. She's outgoing, irresponsible and a little eccentric, and she's a very unpredictable cook. Alice and I have been on the receiving end of her experiments many a time," I laughed, remembering the times Alice and I had locked ourselves in the bathroom, vomiting into the toilet.

"She's my best friend," I sighed and stopped. Talking about her was making me feel depressed.

"How old are you Bella?" His voice sounded frustrated for some reason I couldn't imagine. I looked out of the windshield to see us speeding through the residential areas near Charlie's house.

"I'm seventeen," I responded, confused.

"You don't seem seventeen."

His tone was reproachful; it made me laugh.

"My mother says I was born thirty five and I get more middle aged every year." I laughed, and then sighed. "Well, someone has to be the adult and I never really had much of a childhood anyway." I paused before continuing, "You don't seem like a junior yourself."

"Why is that?" He asked, referring to my previous statement and ignoring my comment on his age.

I hesitated, wondering how much to divulge. "I had a… difficult childhood, and my mother… she is very young for her age."

"Why did she marry Phil?" It took me a moment to recover from the surprise of him remembering Phil's name.

"I think he makes her feel even younger. At any rate, she's crazy about him." I pulled a face; the attraction was a mystery to me.

"Do you approve?" he asked.

"Does it matter?" I countered. "I want her to be happy and Phil is who she wants."

"That's very generous… I wonder, would she extend the same courtesy to you, do you think? No matter who your choice was?" He was suddenly intent, his eyes searching and boring into mine.

"I… don't know. I think so," I faltered. "But she's the parent, no matter how much Alice and I act like it. It's different for her, and… there are other components to consider," I added, thinking of my physical hindrance.

"No one too scary then," he teased, tactfully not commenting on my last comment; my expression may have told him the subject was off limits… for now.

I grinned, "What do you mean by scary? Covered in piercings and tattoos?"

"That's one definition I suppose."

"What's your definition?"

He ignored that question as well, and asked me another.

"Do you think _I_ could be scary?" He raised one eyebrow, but the faintest trace of a smile on his lips lightened his face.

"I think… you could be, if you wanted to be." I decided to go with a truthful observation.

"Are you frightened of my now?" The smile vanished and he was abruptly serious.

"No," I replied calmly. I'd seen my fair share of scares but I was convinced that the most frightening thing in the world to me was… me.

He looked surprised for a moment, and then the smile returned.

-

We drove in silence for a moment, until the car pulled to a stop and I realised that we were outside Charlie's house. Neither of us moved and if I was honest, I was hesitant to leave.

"Why was you childhood difficult?" He asked quietly. I looked over at him again to find him looking curiously at me again, with and underlying layer of hesitance.

"You heard the rumours at school I'm sure," I clarified. He clenched his jaw slightly in anger, and I silently wondered why.

"I was a strange child," I continued, seeing his curt nod. "I was different and I didn't play too well with others. There has always been something about me that seemed to repel everyone." He looked fascinated by what I was saying and a little worried. I couldn't blame him, I didn't understand it myself. Remembering it now I realised how… _lonely_ it was.

"And… Alice?" He asked after my continued silence.

I smiled in response. "She was just like me, and we sort of fit despite our slight differences… like kindred spirits."

"Were you two really expelled?" He asked hesitantly, unsure of whether he was crossing some invisible line. It _was_ a touchy subject, but the Cullen's had secrets too – perhaps darker than mine.

"Yes," I said quietly, and I was sure my eyes were darkening as I thought of the reason for our expulsion.

"Why…?" from his tone I gathered that he was curious but didn't want to upset me.

"There was an incident." My answer was clipped and from my tone I knew he would realise that the subject was closed. He nodded, and looked out of the windshield into the blurred skyline.

"So are you going to tell me about your family?" I asked to distract him from my own dreary life.

He was instantly cautious. "What do you want to know?"

"The Cullen's adopted you?" I verified.

He nodded again, still eyeing me cautiously.

"What happened to your parents?" I asked quietly after a moment's hesitation.

"They died many years ago." His tone was matter of fact.

"I'm sorry," I murmured, feeling as though I shouldn't have brought it up.

"I don't really remember them that clearly," he gave me a reassuring smile, "Carlisle and Esme have been my parents for a long time now."

"And you love them," I stated. It was obvious in the way he spoke of them.

"Yes." He smiled softly, "I couldn't imagine two better people. I am very lucky."

"And your siblings?" I asked.

He glanced at the dashboard where a clock was situated.

"My sibling's, are going to be quite upset if they have to stand in the rain waiting for me." He grinned apologetically.

"Oh! Sorry, I guess you have to go." I undid my seatbelt and prepared to leave the warmth of the Volvo, albeit unwillingly.

"Yes, and you have to prepare a story for Charlie. You don't want him to find out that you've been bunking." He smirked at me.

"Unless he already knows of course, there are no secrets in Forks," I complained sourly. Edward laughed, but there was an edge to the sound.

"So, I'll see you tomorrow?"

"No, Emmett and I are starting the weekend early." He informed me.

"What are you going to do?" It wasn't rude to ask that was it? It was acceptable for a friend to ask, right?

"We're going hiking, in the Goats rocks wilderness." I nodded, remembering talk of the Cullen's love of the outdoors.

"Oh, well, have fun!" I tried to infuse the correct amount of enthusiasm into my voice but I don't think I fooled him. A smile was playing around the edges of his lips.

"And you." He looked at me with the full force of his golden gaze and smiled softly at me before staring straight ahead into the watery greyish green surroundings.

-

I exited the car, a little unsteadily and walked to the front door in a daze. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Edward driving away with a fully fledged smile spread across his face.

'_Cheater.'_

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**A/N:****You know what to do, *Edward's irresistable golden gaze* ;D VV**_  
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	13. Beach trips and Scary stories

**A/N: Thank you for you're patience everyone. I really appreciate the reviews i've been getting and the alerts and favourites; thank you, i'm glad you like the story - here's another chapter, enjoy!**

Chapter 13

~ Alice ~

I knew that Bella didn't believe I was upset with her; I also knew she'd want to ditch with Edward anyway. However, once she had decided to ditch with him I couldn't see what was going to happen; whatever the Cullen's were, they didn't just block themselves, they blocked everyone who was with them from my other sight.

This irritated me a great deal.

Suddenly I felt calm. Too calm; it didn't feel like my own and it had been happening a lot lately. Suspiciously I searched around the emptying cafeteria as I fake stormed my way out and found Jasper staring intently in my direction and hesitating by the doors.

Automatically relaxing to his presence, I smiled brightly and danced over to where he was standing. He smiled back at me and tipped his head in greeting. We just stood there for a few moments gazing at each other, caught up in our own world before a cough brought me back to earth with an embarrassing bump.

"Can I walk with you to class?" Jasper asked softly, his golden eyes observing me intently. Still flushing from the earlier embarrassment, I nodded.

"Certainly."

History passed in a blur and I could not for the life of me tell you what it was about; Jasper was no longer angling himself away from me, consciously or subconsciously. I was deliriously happy and it seemed to be having some sort of an effect on Jasper; he didn't look so agonised, far more cheerful and every now and then he would level a grin in my direction making me want to swoon like I love sick fool.

I loved every minute of it.

Jasper walked me to my final class of the day too. Along the way we continued our conversation, chatting about everyday things, the usually mundane became vitally important.

His next question caught me slightly off guard and was asked hesitantly, cautiously.

"What was your life like… before you were adopted?"

I breath caught and I looked at him sharply. His expression was curious, but not demanding. He was giving me a choice whether to answer or not.

I struggled to sum the experience into one word, not really wanting to speak of the past I tried so hard to forget. Finally, I found the perfect word.

"Nightmarish."

Jasper let the subject drop.

-

Mike, Jessica and Angela approached me as I was heading for the truck and I already had a solid idea what they were going to ask me – or demand of me.

"You're still on for tomorrow right?" Eric asked as soon as I was in hearing distance.

"And Bella too?" Mike cut in before I could answer. Jessica threw him a glare in response to that.

"Yeah, we said we would, didn't we?" Well… I did, Bella sort of grunted when she was asked. "Which beach?"

"La Push, its down on the reservation, we're all meeting outside Newton's outfitters at 10 tomorrow." Mike replied while Eric held his arms aloft like an aeroplane.

"And I don't just surf the internet!" He cried dramatically, giving me a grin. _'Err…'_

"Eric, you stood up once and it was on a foam board" Jessica replied scathingly, giving him a weird look. I struggled against the urge to laugh uncomfortably.

"But there's whale watching too… come with us?" Angela asked sweetly, convincing me with that one sentence if all else had failed.

"Sure. We'll be there." I smiled; I liked Angela.

After a few more uncertain moments, we went our separate ways and I was finally able to go home.

-

"Honey I'm home!" I yelled when I walked through the door, kicking off my shoes by the door mat and racing upstairs to find my sister sprawled upside down on her bed, reading Macbeth.

"Hey," She greeted me, setting her book aside and righting herself.

"We have a beach trip to go to tomorrow." I informed her in a rush. _'Better to rip the band-aid off quickly rather that peeling it off slowly…'_

"I'm sorry, what?" She blinked disbelievingly for a few moments. I waited patiently for her to recover.

"Why would you agree to that Alice?"

"Mike, Jessica, Eric and Angela ambushed me after school!" I defended, crossing my arms over my chest.

Bella raised an eyebrow, clearly unsympathetic to my case.

"Angela." I emphasized; Bella paused before shrugging in reluctant agreement.

"Come on, it'll be fun!"

Bella pointed a warning finger at me and opened her mouth to speak before a strange vacant expression covered her face.

"Bella?" I asked uncertainly, stepping closer to her bed.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, life returning to her face once more and looking slightly grumpy. "I see how it is."

"What?"

"Edward." Was all she said; I raised my eyebrows expectantly. She rolled her eyes before elaborating, "He basically told me to 'have fun' tomorrow."

I nodded, pretending that I knew what she was talking about before making my way to my own bedroom and knuckling down to some homework I'd rather not leave for over the weekend.

-

"Bella!"

It was seven in the morning and I ran into my sister's room in a panic.

Bella barely flinched as a came barging into her room, throwing her door open with a bang; she simply continued to sleep peacefully.

"Bella!" I yelled again, adding a smack to her shoulder for good measure.

"Ouch! What?" Bella jumped and glared irritably from her position under her duvet.

"I can't see!" I answered my eyes wide with alarm.

Bella stared at me dumbly.

"I can't see!" I repeated, flapping my arms around for emphasis.

Bella continued to stare at me like I'd lost my mind before comprehension dawned.

"You can't _see_?" she confirmed and I nodded, jutting my bottom lip out in a pout.

"I was just going to have a peak at how the beach trip was going to go and… nothing. There was nothing!" I wailed.

'_This is happening way too often for my liking'_, I grumbled internally.

Bella peered blearily up at me while unsuccessfully stifling a yawn with one hand.

"Okay, calm down and let's think this through," she soothed, rubbing her eyes tiredly.

I drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly, closing my eyes in concentration.

"You don't think the Cullen's could be there today do you?" I asked, thinking of the strange way they made my sight go all fuzzy.

Bella surprised me by shaking her head confidently, "They're all going away this weekend – Edward told me," she added, seeing the questioning look on my face.

"Alright," I acknowledged. "No Cullen's, but what else could make me blind?" I asked, peeved.

Bella shook her head again, "I don't know Alice, but we should start getting ready if you want us to be on time for these people," she said, climbing out of bed and heading for the bathroom.

The last thing I heard from my sister before the bathroom door slammed shut was, "let's just wing it, 'kay?"

I giggled quietly to myself, despite my discontent.

-

Just as I had predicted for the day ahead, it was bright and sunny; perfect for a trip to the beach in Forks.

Newton's store was north of town, so when Bella and I arrived there in our beast of a truck, most people had already arrived.

As we pulled up, I noticed a group of people stood around what I recognised to be Mike and Tyler's cars. Eric and two other boys I was fairly sure were called Ben and Connor, were there. Jessica was also there, flanked by Angela and Lauren. _'Perfect…'_

Three other girls whom I didn't know the names of were stood next to them and as we were climbing out, one gave Bella a particularly dirty look and whispered something to Lauren. Lauren shook out her pale blonde hair and eyed Bella scornfully with a little bit of apprehension.

"Oh goody," I heard Bella groan. "So it's going to be one of _those_ days is it?" She barked a short laugh and rolled her eyes. Her amusement evaporated as Mike came bounding over to us – _'seriously, where is your tail?'_ I thought.

"You came!" He called, delighted. "I said it would be sunny today, didn't I?"

"No," Bella said shortly. "Alice did."

"I said we would come." I reminded him, trying to be a little nicer than Bella was, so to not hurt his feelings too much. Bella glanced at me, exasperated.

"We're just waiting for Lee and Samantha – Will you ride in my car? It's that or Lee's mom's mini van." Mike's feelings clearly remained unharmed.

"Sure." I answered before Bella could – she was clearly about to take the offer of the mini van.

Mike smiled blissfully – he was so easily satisfied. Bella glowered at me which only intensified when Mike said to her, "You can have shotgun." This resulted in Jessica glaring daggers at her.

Grumbling under her breath, Bella began stalking towards the passenger side of Mike's Suburban.

The numbers worked in our favour, though. Lee brought two extra people, so every seat became necessary. Bella shoved Jessica and Lauren towards shotgun and managed to squeeze the two of us into the back seat next to Angela, Ben and some other kids I didn't know; I gave Bella a mental high five. Although, Mike could have been a little more graceful about the whole thing, at least Jessica and Lauren seemed appeased.

Bella and I really appreciated the window seat - the Suburban was quite claustrophobic with nine people squashed inside – gorgeous dense green forests edged the road most of the way to La Push with the wide Quillayute River snaking beneath it twice. It wasn't far to La Push form Forks, only fifteen miles, but with the windows rolled down and the meagre sunlight filtering in, Bella and I tried to absorb as much raze as possible.

The beaches at La Push were beautiful – Bella had been many times as a child but it was fairly new to me; I'd only been a handful of times.

First beach was breathtaking. The water was dark grey, even in the sunlight, white-capped and heaving to the grey, rocky shore. Cliffs lined the shorelines in the distance, emerging from the dense greenery. There was only a thin border of actual sand at the water's edge, after which it grew into millions of large, smooth stones that up close, were every colour a stone could be. The tide line was strewn with huge driftwood trees, bleached bone white from the salty waves; some were piled together, just out of reach of the wild waves.

A cool brisk wind was coming off the waves and the clouds still circled the sky, ready to break in at any moment but I was confident the brave sunlight would hold for at least a few hours yet.

"How long do you reckon we have?" Bella murmured to me as we picked our way down to the beach, Mike leading the way to a circle of driftwood logs that were obviously used for occasions such as this.

"At least a few hours," I replied, taking her gloved hand in mine to ensure she didn't fall as she was prone to do every now and then.

"So you think you know better than the weatherman, do you Alice?" Lauren sneered from behind us, having clearly been eavesdropping.

I turned to face her slowly, squeezing Bella's hand in reassurance and warning, and gave Lauren a pleasant smile, "Just an observation."

Bella and I grinned at each other, enjoying our private joke.

"Yes, she is better than your everyday weatherman actually," she whispered so only I could hear, and chuckled.

Bella and I kept to ourselves for the majority of the trip. We sat together on the logs and enjoyed the driftwood fire, watching the normally orange flame turn blue and green and dancing merrily as the flames licked at the driftwood being added every so often; it was very pretty.

After half an hour of chatter, some of the boys wanted to hike to the nearest tidal pools. Bella and I were in a dilemma. We loved visiting the tidal pools, they were fascinating and we loved looking into the shallow pools which were teeming with life – so long as Bella didn't fall into them. However, company such as Lauren, Mike, Eric and co were not appealing people to go visit them with.

Fortunately, Lauren decided for us, she didn't want to hike and was wearing the wrong shoes for it. Tyler and Eric were also staying behind – that left Mike as still going, but you can't have everything in life.

Mike gave us a huge smile when he saw that we were coming; _'yes Mike, we are coming on this trip simply because you are there.'_

"Idiot," I heard Bella grumble, who was apparently thinking along similar lines.

When we got back to first beach, the group we had left behind had multiplied. As we got closer, we could see the gleaming black hair and copper skin of the local teenagers from the reservation come to socialize. Food was being shared and handed around, and the boys we had hiked with hurried over to claim their share while Eric introduced us as we each entered the driftwood circle. Angela, Bella and I were the last to arrive and as Eric said our names, I saw a couple of the new teenagers look at us with interest.

Bella and I sat down and Mike passed us some sandwiches and an array of sodas to choose from, while a boy, who looked to be the oldest of the reservation teenagers, rattled off the names of the seven others with him. There was a kid, who looked a little bit younger than Bella and I called Jacob – the name rang a bell and he seemed vaguely familiar.

Angela was a restful person to be around and I was glad it was she who Bella and I were sat next to; she didn't feel the need to fill every silence with meaningless chatter. This, I knew Bella would greatly appreciate.

After everyone had finished eating, people began drifting and scattering off. Some decided to go on another hike to the tide pool and explore the surrounding forests, others simply walked along the shore line in twos and threes. Angela decided to go hiking with Ben and a few others, including Mike and Eric.

By the time many had fully scattered, Bella and I were sat alone on our driftwood log, Lauren and Tyler were sat together listening to a CD and three teenagers from the reservation, including the boy called Jacob and the elder boy who acted as the leader were perched around the circle.

A few minutes after Angela had left with the hikers, Jacob sauntered over to take her place by our side. He looked fourteen, maybe fifteen, and had long, glossy black hair he had tied with a rubber band at the nape of his neck. His skin was a beautiful russet colour; he eyes were dark, set deep above the high planes of his cheekbones. His chin still had the hint of childish roundness around his chin and he had a wide, contagious smile; altogether, a very pretty face. However, my positive impression of his good looks vanished with the first words that came out of his mouth.

"You're Alice and Isabella Swan aren't you?"

I sighed, and heard the same sound come from Bella on my left. I looked over at her to find her observing Jacob with bored contemplation.

"Bella," she corrected, sighing. It _was_ like the first day of school all over again.

"I'm Jacob Black," He held out his hand in a friendly gesture. "You bought my dad's truck."

"Oh," she said surprised while shaking his hand with her gloved one, I did the same. "You're Billy's son, I probably should remember you." Aah. That's why he seemed familiar. I smiled at him in greeting.

"No, I'm the youngest. You'd remember my older sisters."

"Rachel and Rebecca," Bella and I recalled at the same time, both nodding and smiling. They were twins and Charlie and Billy used to pair Bella and myself with them to keep us busy while they were fishing. We didn't make much progress as friends; I came into the family later, the twins were shy and Bella was simply awkward.

"Are they here?" I asked, searching the waters edge for anyone I recognised.

"No," Jacob shook his head. "Rachel got a scholarship to Washington State, and Rebecca married a Samoan surfer – she lives in Hawaii now."

"Married? Wow," Bella said surprised, the twins were only a year older than us.

"So how do you like the truck?" Jacob asked.

"Love it," we said together again. "It runs great," Bella added.

"Yeah, but it's really slow," he laughed. "I was so relieved when Charlie bought it from us. My dad wouldn't let me build another car when there was a perfectly good vehicle right there."

"It's not that slow!" Bella objected while I laughed at her.

"Have you tried to go over sixty?"

Bella glanced at me slyly and I grimaced.

"Exactly," Jacob laughed again. We grinned at him in return; you couldn't help but like him – he was just so easy to talk to.

"It does great in a collision," Bella stated wisely while I nodded in agreement.

"I don't think a tank could take out that old monster," he agreed with another laugh, flashing us a bright smile and looking over us with an expression Bella and I were learning to recognize. We shared an exasperated glance, rolling our eyes skywards.

"You know Bella and Alice, Jacob?" Lauren asked from across the fire in what I imagined she thought was an innocent tone.

"We've kind of known each other since we were kids," Jacob smiled at us again.

"How nice," she didn't sound like she thought it was nice at all; her pale fishy eyes narrowed.

"Bella," she called, looking at Bella intently. "I was just saying to Tyler, that it's a shame the Cullen's couldn't come today. Didn't anybody think to ask them?" her expression of concern wouldn't convince even the most gullible of people.

"You mean Dr Carlisle Cullen's family?" the tall, older boy asked before Bella could respond, much to Lauren's irritation. He looked closer to a man than a boy; his voice was very deep.

"Yes, do you know them?" she asked condescendingly, turning halfway towards him.

"The Cullen's don't come here," he said in a tone that closed the subject, ignoring her question. However, it piqued Bella and my interest.

Tyler, wanting Lauren's attention, engaged her in a different conversation; she was distracted.

Bella and I stared at the deep-voiced boy, taken aback, but he was looking into the dark forest behind us. He had said that the Cullen's didn't come here, but his tone implied something more – like they weren't allowed to come here, prohibited. What could have Jasper or any of the Cullen's done to ignite such a response? I had to know.

I looked over at my sister to find a similar expression on her face; I caught her eye and we silently agreed to find out why.

"Do you want to come for a walk with us?" I asked Jacob, giving him a friendly smile; Bella gave him a grin. Jacob jumped up enthusiastically and smiled at the two of us.

Bella looked like she wanted to grimace; she wasn't exactly inept when it came to flirting – she just didn't know how and wasn't exactly experienced. I however, wasn't quite able to scare people the way she naturally could, so I had to use other means – charming them.

We walked together along the multi-toned stones on the shore, talking about general topics for a few minutes before Bella and I began our attack.

"So, you're what, sixteen?" I asked, smiling and looking at Jacob from beneath my eyelashes. Bella was smiling up at the cloudy sky in smothered amusement.

"I just turned fifteen," he confessed, looking flattered.

"Really?" Bella cut in, her face full of 'surprise', "I would have thought you were older."

"I'm tall for my age," he explained.

"Do you come up to Forks much?" I asked archly, as though hoping he would say yes. Bella winked at me from behind Jacob's back – it made me feel idiotic and guilty.

"Not too much," he admitted with a frown. "But when I get my licence and finish my car, I can come up as much as I want."

"Who was that other boy that Lauren was talking to? He seemed a little old to be hanging around with the rest of us," Bella asked, purposefully putting us in the same category as Jacob – the youngsters.

"That's Sam - he's nineteen," He informed us.

"What was he saying about the doctor's family?" she asked innocently, furrowing her brows in a look of confusion.

"The Cullen's? Oh, they're not meant to come onto the reservation." He looked away, over towards James Island, as he confirmed what we had heard in Sam's voice.

"Why not?"

Jacob looked at us, biting his lip. "Oops. I'm not meant to say anything about that."

"Oh, don't worry, we won't tell anyone," I assured him, smiling angelically.

"We're just curious," Bella finished off my sentence, smiling alluringly. We both looked at him with wide, innocent eyes and looking inviting – poor kid didn't stand a chance.

He smiled back, looking allured. Then he lifted one eyebrow and said in a voice that was huskier than before, "Do you like scary stories?" he asked ominously.

"Oh, I love them!" Both Bella and I enthused with smouldering eyes – I, in my 'innocent teenager' voice and Bella, in her best 'bad-girl' voice.

Jacob strolled to a nearby driftwood tree that had its roots sticking out like the broken legs of a huge, pale spider. He perched on one of the twisted roots, while Bella and I sat on the floor beneath him, peering up at him like children ready to hear a story. He stared down at the rocks, a smile playing on the edges of his broad lips; he was definitely going to try to make this story good.

"Do you know any of our old stories, about where we came from – the Quileutes, I mean?" he began. Bella and I shook our heads.

"Well, there are lots of legends, some of them claiming to date back to the flood – supposedly, one legend claims that we descended from wolves – and that the wolves are our brothers still. It's against tribal law to kill them.

"Then there are the stories of the _cold ones_." His voice dropped a little lower, thought the way in which he told the stories stated plainly how little he put into these stories.

"The cold ones?" I asked, not even attempting to fake my intrigue.

"Yes. There are stories of the cold one that are as old as the wolf legends, and some that are much more recent. According to legend, my own great-grandfather knew some of them. He was the one who made the treaty that kept them off our land." He rolled his eyes.

"You're great-grandfather?" Bella encouraged.

"He was the tribal elder, like my father is now. You see, the cold ones are the natural enemy of the wolf. Well, not the wolf; wolves that turn into men, like our ancestors – you would call them werewolves."

"Werewolves have enemies?"

"Only one."

Bella and I stared at him, I hoped Bella didn't look as impatient as I felt – I tried to look admiring.

"So you see," Jacob continued. "The cold ones are traditionally our enemies. But the pack that came to our territory during my great-grandfather's time was different. They didn't hunt the same way the rest of their kind did – they weren't supposed to be dangerous to the tribe. So a truce was made, if they stayed off our lands, we wouldn't expose what they were to the pale-faces." He winked at us.

"If they weren't dangerous, then why…" I tried to understand without showing Jacob how seriously Bella and I were taking his little scary story.

"There's always a risk for humans to be around the cold ones, even if they are civilised like this clan was. You never know when they might get too hungry to resist." He deliberately worked a menacing edge into his tone.

"Civilised?" Bella questioned.

"They claimed that they didn't hunt humans, that they only hunted animals instead."

Bella miraculously managed to keep her voice level and casual while I was trying to fit the puzzle pieces together, "So, how does this fit in with the Cullen's? Are they like the cold ones your great-grandfather met?"

I froze and Bella inconspicuously nudged me with her elbow.

"No." Jacob paused dramatically. "They are the _same_ ones."

I felt my breath catch in my throat and saw Jacob smile, pleased by our reaction and our expressions, which he must have misread as fear from his storytelling.

He continued, "There's a new member now, a male, bust the rest are the same. In my great-grandfather's time they already knew of the leader – Carlisle."

"And what are they?" I finally asked. "What are the cold ones?" Bella and I asked at the same time.

Jacob smiled darkly.

"Blood drinkers," he replied in a chilling voice. "Your people call them vampires."

Bella and I looked at each other, our eyes wide and faces pale; I could tell we were thinking the same thing.

'_Vampires…'_

-

**A/N: Feel like dropping a review? tell me what you think; thanks all! :)**


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: i apologize for the lateness of the update, it's been pretty hectic down this end...**

**thakyou for the reviews and all the alerts and favourites, i squealed like a fangirl :)**

**enjoy!**

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Chapter 14

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**~ Alice ~**

I shared a loaded look with Bella; her eyes were wide and bright with surprise and suppressed excitement. Jacob continued the conversation, oblivious to our reactions and the importance of what he had just said.

"Hey, you've got goose bumps!" He laughed. "So am I a good story teller?" he quirked an eyebrow, looking at us expectantly.

"Definitely," I murmured.

"So, do you think we're a bunch of superstitious natives, or what?" he jokingly asked, thought there was real curiosity behind the question.

"Nah," Bella answered absently, pulling herself from her thoughts and grinning slightly. "You're a good storyteller, and you know it." She looked pointedly at his smug expression.

As Jacob began speaking again, my mind drifted and I began to think…

They were Vampires. Of course; everything began to fall into place and past mysteries were unravelling as I thought them through. We knew they weren't exactly human but… not _that_ inhuman.

Before I could continue my train of thought, my eyes glazed over and with a jolt of surprise, I realised I was receiving my first vision of the day. How odd.

However, my surprise was quickly replaced my amused exasperation, and as I emerged from my trace to see Bella's worried expression, I had to try very hard not to laugh at what was surely about to spark her ire any moment now.

"Bella! There you are!" Mike Newton called, relieved, having clearly being searching for her. "And Alice," He added almost as an after thought, causing Bella to huff irritably and for her eyes to narrow dangerously. I tried to pass my snort off as a cough.

"Is that your boyfriend?" Jacob asked, hearing the tone of possessiveness in Mike's voice.

"No!" Bella hissed with disgust.

A wicked grin began to play around Jacob's mouth, and a mischievous gleam entered his dark eyes. Bella and I eyed him cautiously before we both felt an arm snake round our necks and hang off our shoulders.

Jacob had surreptitiously moved between us as we stood to face Mike, and had slung each of his arms over us like some leering lecher.

Bella and I stiffened and I looked at her with alarm; thank whatever higher power that she was wearing her turtleneck and traditional multiple layers.

After the initial shock, I began to see the humour in the situation as I caught the expression on Blondie's face. I could tell from the dark chuckle coming from my sister and from the wry smile she was wearing, that she did too.

Mike mumbled something about heading back to Forks now that the weather seemed to be taking a turn for the worst, and stalked back down the beach with one last sulking glance, Jessica in hot pursuit.

As soon as they were out of earshot, Jacob doubled over, roaring with laughter and releasing us from his hold.

"Did you see his face?" He wheezed, clutching his sides and trying to calm down. Finally managing to steady his breathing and stand upright, he peered over to see us staring at him in bemusement.

"Jacob, I think this is a start of a beautiful friendship," Bella informed him, shaking her head and chuckling when he began to look concerned.

Indeed, I thought; I could really like Jacob Black.

-

**~ Bella ~**

Alice and I were silent on the drive back to Forks, lost in thought.

Jacob had spoken of visiting us sometime, once he'd finished building his car (which had impressed me a great deal). I really hadn't thought anything would have come from flirting harmlessly with the boy, though I did feel a little guilty for playing with him simply to get the information we required. However, Jacob was a cool kid and no long-term damage or harm seemed to have come from mine and Alice's little manipulation. Jacob was actually pretty cool… for most teenagers.

Charlie wasn't home when we got back which was probably a good thing; he may know about mine and Alice's gifts and not have a problem with it, but vampires were a whole new kettle of fish.

Logging onto the computer we both shared, Alice typed into the Google search engine; 'Vampires'.

Loads of useless crap came up.

Filtering through the gothic websites, Satan worshipping sites and the like, we finally found something promising; 'Vampires A-Z'.

There were a lot of far fetched and ridiculous myths and stories but, every now and then something would be mentioned which fit into our situation with the Cullen's; the speed, the strength, eyes changing colour, cold-skinned and inhuman beauty. There were the usual signs and stories that everyone knew, such as immortality, blood drinking, not going out in the sunlight, sleeping in coffins…

I pulled the plug out of the computer, not shutting it down the correct way but effectively making the screen go blank. Alice looked at me a little frantically.

"I don't know what to do."

-

It was overcast, but not raining yet as Alice and I followed the ribbon of a muddy trail into the dense green forests outside the house. Surrounding by the mystical greenery and listening to the sounds of unseen creatures foraging about, it was far easier to believe what had made me switch off the aging computer in a panic.

Coming to a stop in front of a tree stump at the mouth of a clearing just out of sight of the main road, Alice flung herself gracefully onto the forest floor, resting her elbow on the stump and peering up at me with darkened eyes.

"They're Vampires," I said, standing in front of her and looking down at her small form.

She hesitated, "Yes."

I huffed and collapsed in a heap next to her, reclining into the bracken and stretching my arms and legs outwards like a snow angel.

I thought through the clues on the website, and ticked them off in my mind; Alice seemed to be doing the same thing.

The speed and strength; images of Edward blurring to my side to stop Tyler's van sprang to mind – check. Cold skin; thinking back, the momentary touch between us without my gloves had certainly been cold, but I hadn't noticed at the time, I was too focussed on the white noise in my head and the fact that he was still breathing – check. Heightened senses; hearing our conversation from across the noisy cafeteria – definite check. Eye colour – check; and I noticed something else, Edward was well spoken – or he still spoke like the time period he was raised in. Immortality – I think that is a 'check'.

I glanced over at my sister to find her eyes closed and a small smile on her lips as she slowly shook her head from side to side.

"They're Vampires," I said again, only this time I truly believed it.

"Yes."

We sat in silence for a while, absorbed in our thoughts and wondering what exactly this all meant; what I had thought were stories turned out to be true…

"Do you think there's more?" Alice suddenly asked. I turned towards her to find her staring at me, looking excited.

"I'm sorry?"

"Well, if vampires exist… do the others do too?" she was beginning to bounce.

"Like what?" I asked curiously.

"I always thought fairies existed… and trolls!"

I scoffed at her, "Come on Alice, trolls and fairies? You don't believe in that stuff." Vampires were one thing, but I refused to believe in fairies.

"Sure I do, why not?" she looked at me as if I'd sprouted antlers. _'Because I'm insisting that mythical creatures exist…'_ I rolled my eyes.

"Well, perhaps it's time I told you about Santa…" I told her sarcastically while patting her on the head. She batted my hand away and scowled at me, jutting her bottom lip out.

"Bella, _we_ exist don't we?"

"_We_ are not mythical, and despite your quirk and my particular defect, the last time I checked, we were definitely human." Alice simply sighed exasperatedly in response, as though I was missing something extremely obvious.

We lapsed into silence again, Alice occasionally huffing irritably in my direction.

"What do we do now?" I asked, thinking about what Edward had said; _'I'm not a good friend for you… if you're smart, you'd stay away from me…'_

"Jacob said that they hunted animals; that they weren't supposed to be dangerous?" Alice bit her lip, looking torn.

I suddenly saw the past few weeks very clearly; while I'd been completely occupied with Edward, I'd failed to notice how Alice had felt as well. Despite my teasing about her and Jasper, I hadn't consciously realised how precisely the same Alice and Jasper's situation was to mine and Edwards… well, somewhat.

Looking at my sister now, I could see how reluctant she was to leave his side, how completely changed she was, yet completely the same… I tried to wrap my mind around it. When it came to the bottom line, our feelings were the same. We couldn't leave, no matter how much Edward had suggested I go; that I forget them and move on. I couldn't, and neither could Alice – we were in too deep, and it physically hurt to think of leaving him, leaving _them_. _'It doesn't matter.'_

My head snapped up and stared at Alice with an intensity that must have surprised her, for she flinched backwards. She eyed me worriedly before seeing the conviction and determination in my eyes. She smiled, and her dark green eyes, sparkled with happiness and another emotion I didn't recognise.

"It doesn't matter," I said, slightly breathless from my mini epiphany.

Alice smiled and nodded in agreement, "It doesn't matter."

The darkened heavens opened and rain began to drizzle; nourishing the blackened and dried greenery on the forest floor in the shape of a human girl, roughly 5ft4…

-

"The sun is shining."

"Mm."

"Wake up."

"Ouch!"

Alice barged into my room at 6:30 the following morning, irritatingly chipper at such an hour, and flicking me in the forehead with her hair band.

Glaring at her blearily, I peered out the window to see for myself.

Indeed, the sun was shining; weakly peeking from behind the layers of clouds it's true, but nevertheless, the yellow orb was shining.

"No turtlenecks!" Alice ordered sternly before marching out of my room and down the stairs to the kitchen. "Can you also make some pancakes, please?"

Grumbling, I dressed for the day, forgoing the traditional turtleneck as I was bid and made my way to the kitchen to cook for and join my demanding midget of a sister.

The drive to school was quiet and comfortable; Alice had found a classical radio station in the ancient beast that was our truck, and we relaxed to the sounds of Debussy.

However, upon entering the student parking lot, the absence of a certain silver Volvo brought to my attention the absence of its owner.

"They're not going to be here today, at all." Alice's voice brought me out of my not so subtle perusal of the lot. I looked over at her to see her eyes beginning to unglazed. We sighed simultaneously.

"The sun is shining," I said. "Figures."

-

The school day passed agonizingly slowly; without Edward or hell, the other Cullen's - who I hadn't even exchanged two words with – the day was extremely boring. My lessons passed, Jessica talked, Mike wouldn't get a clue, Jessica glared, Lauren bitched… when I wasn't looking.

I was nearly in tears.

I missed him, and it had barely been one school day, (If you didn't count the weekend).

"Tomorrow's going to be another sunny day."

It was lunchtime, and Alice and I were sat with the usual group, contributing to the conversation every now and then but overall not really giving a shit. Alice's news were not received with good grace; I scowled moodily at the slimy slice of margarita pizza on my tray, before huffing a glaring at the cracked ceiling of the cafeteria.

"I know," Alice murmured, bumping my knee with hers. "But Jessica is going to invite us shopping with her, Angela and Lauren tonight." My scowl didn't lessen.

"However, Blondie is going to ask you out to dinner tonight as well," I didn't really understand how this was going to lift my mood, but was thankful for the heads up.

"You're going to say no, rather rudely I might add, and not so subtly push him in Jessica's direction." I smirked a little at Alice's disapproving tone, and glanced over to where Jessica was sitting, mooning over said boy, who was mooning over me.

My decision just became that more cemented.

"Thanks for that, Now, Blondie will dejectedly move onto Jessica, she will delightedly say yes, you can imagine…" Yes I most certainly could. "She will cancel tonight's plans and change them to tomorrow." Alice finished in little more than a whisper in my ear as a few people looked over at us curiously.

"How do I get out of tomorrow?" I murmured to her out of the corner of my mouth, looking up at the ceiling in feigned boredom.

"You don't." My head snapped towards hers and I stared at her incredulously.

Alice rolled her eyes at me. "Oh stop being so melodramatic and let me finish!" She paused and looked at me calculatingly before nodding in approval.

"Lauren can't do tomorrow and Angela will be one step away from begging you to go there with her as she doesn't want to be left alone with Jessica's viper tongue."

_'Ah, now I feel guilty for wanting to escape for the very reason Angela wants me to be there…'_ I sighed and closed my eyes. Still keeping them shut, I nodded in Alice's direction knowing she could see it.

"Excellent. Now, I won't be there –"

I cut her off before she could continue. "What?!" I stared at her, my voice cracking with the strain of keeping my outrage in whisper form.

Alice grabbed me by the arm and indicated that we should take this outside; all occupants at the lunch table had paused in their conversations to look curiously over at us as they heard my hushed exclamation.

I welcomed the cool air as it hit my face, helping me calm down slightly.

"What the hell, Alice?" I turned towards my sister, a little more subdued. "You can't leave me alone with these people."

"Look, I was going to come, but something is going to come up." Alice frowned, and as I was about to think it was really serious she said, "I really needed to go shopping, you know."

I sighed and chuckled a little hysterically. "Shopping, I have to go shopping with these people? Why? I hate shopping, you know this."  
"Yes, but Charlie and Renee said you need to branch out. I know you don't play well with others Bella, but whose fault is that?" Alice ran one hand over her face and shook her head.

A little stung at her accusation I opened my mouth to defend myself, "Correction, I don't play well with morons." Alice laughed and linked her arm through mine, in apology and companionship, and began to stroll down the path to our next lessons. "Plus, it's a little hard to play with anyone when you can't touch them." I murmured, squinting pensively into the surrounding forest.

Alice sighed, murmuring, "I'm sorry, that was tactless."

I shook my head. "No, it was truthful." Pulling away from her grasp, I turned to face her on the walkway.

"So, what exactly am I agreeing to tomorrow, and what does Charlie want that's so important that it separates you from your favourite sister?" I smiled teasingly.

Giving me a piercing look that told me she wasn't letting this go, she answered, "The girls need your advice on what to wear to the spring dance. Angela wants you to feel included and Jessica wants to rub it in your face."

I snorted at the last comment, "Alright, but whatever gave them the idea that I'm the one to go to with all things female?" I asked rhetorically. "Where are they dragging –sorry- taking me?"

"Port Angelus," I nodded and looked at her expectantly. She smiled a little before linking her fingers through mine and continuing towards my biology classroom.

"Charlie needs some help at work." I frowned in confusion, wondering why he would need a seventeen year old girl to help him. Understanding my expression, Alice continued. "Not that kind of help Bells, the help only you and I can give, you know?" she raised her eyebrows suggestively.

"Oh!" I exclaimed lightly. "Do you know what it is?"

"Not really, though I'm a little bit miffed," she huffed, swinging our joined hands forwards and backwards. I nudged her with my hip to elaborate.

"I see the future, not the past. Why would he need me on a crime scene or an interview? I can't tell when someone's lying…" she shook her head in confusion. "I don't like not knowing."

I murmured my agreement, while pondering the possibilities. Could Alice possibly see the past? Given the opportunity or if she really needed it? So much was unknown, we didn't even know if our abilities strengthened with time – I only knew that my own accelerated a little after puberty began. I used to only hurt people but now…

I was brought out of my ponderings as we made our way to my classroom when the hairs on the back of my neck suddenly jumped to attention.

I stopped abruptly and whirled around to face the woodland area opposite the school, swinging Alice's smaller frame along with my own.

"Bella?" Alice asked worriedly. When I didn't answer, she tugged lightly on my arm to try to get me to respond. I was staring deeply into the depths of the forest, through the trees, and leaning forward slightly, my eyes narrowed.

"Bella? What is it?" she demanded, sounding more concerned.

"Someone's watching us," I murmured, turning my head halfway in her direction and speaking out of the corner of my mouth. I heard her intake of breath and felt her turn towards the greenery as well, peering into the unfathomable depths and probably searching the future for the outcome.

I stared hard, listened with all my might and focussed on that one location – and found nothing; no sight, sound or smell that was out of place.

The sound of the approaching teenagers knocked me out of my focus and I looked around for confirmation. I knew I'd felt something out there…

"Come on," I said quietly to Alice, squeezing her hand in reassurance and pulling her back to the present.

Alice nodded and spoke quickly and quietly as we walked briskly towards the science block, "I saw nothing," she looked at me significantly with her obstinate eyes. "I saw absolutely nothing; the future was as blank as a white bathroom tile."

Breathing heavily out through my nose, I nodded tensely, indicating I understood. My mind whirled.

They were watching us.

-

A/N: soooo? :)

Happy holidays!!


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: Haii. Sorry, it's been a while. i didn't forget or abandon this story and i certainly won't in the future (i hope), i've just had a very trying few months and am facing a lot of problems at the moment. Updates will not be scheduled or anything - i'll be updating when i can but it may be a bit haphazardly. for that, i apologize.**

**Now, on with the story! i hope you enjoy.**

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Chapter 15

~ Bella ~

I threw my bag haphazardly onto my bed after slamming the front door and storming up the stairs in a huff.

"Stupid boys… Stupid jealous angst ridden teens…" my mumbling became incoherent as I paced and raged while Alice watched on in amusement, dropping daintily onto my bedspread and folding her legs beneath her.

Alice was right of course; Jessica _did_ invite me shopping, with Lauren sulking moodily in the background; Mike _did_ invite me out to dinner, and I _did _reject him harshly and rudely before sending him off on his merry way into Jessica's consoling embrace… _snort_.

I was now reluctantly going shopping with Jessica and Angela the following day (sans Lauren, thank whatever higher power…) and waiting anxiously for Charlie to come home so I could have a spectacular tantrum like any normal female teen.

Alice found my predicament hilarious. Witch.

Overall, I'd had a bad day and was in a foul mood. I almost felt guilty for the hapless victims who dared cross my path. Almost.

Alice and I hadn't spoken of the dubbed 'Cullen situation' after what had happened at lunch; if they could hide in the surrounding forests undetected and listen in on our conversations with what we suspected was with ease, plus a family member with the ability to read minds… we were in a bit of a pickle. We had no privacy whatsoever, and it pissed me off.

I finally stopped pacing and merely stood there, clenching and unclenching my gloved fists. Alice sighed, having had enough, and pulled me bodily onto the bed with her.

"You know, I always wondered how someone so small could be so strong," I wondered, raising my eyebrow at her and peering intently at her biceps.

Alice merely laughed.

The door slammed downstairs, indicating Charlie's early arrival. I frowned at Alice but she seemed to be expecting it. With a grimace, she jumped to her feet and moved towards the stairs.

"Hey dad," I called, following Alice. Charlie grunted in response, his expression grim.

"What happened?"

"Some locals down by the mill got killed by some kind of animal…" Charlie's face twisted slightly and I understood; he'd seen the bodies. I shuddered and almost missed Alice's response.

"An animal?" her expression was pensive and she appeared to be thinking deeply. Charlie opened his mouth to ask her something but before he could, Alice answered him absently. "Yes, I'll come down to the station tomorrow after school… did you want me at the scene of the crime too?" Charlie sighed and nodded his head before veering off towards the living room to sit down.

"You don't believe it was an animal." It wasn't a question, it was a statement; I looked at her curiously.

"No. I knew that straight away. Charlie wouldn't ask for my help over an animal attack – there must be something else…" Alice murmured, trailing off as her eyes glazed over.

When she came back to the present I voiced my thoughts, steering her into the kitchen so I could make us a snack. "Whatever is going on, it must be pretty graphic 'cause Charlie doesn't look too pleased about you seeing it."

Alice bobbed her head in agreement, "An animal couldn't do what I'm seeing – it's too strategic." she lost herself in her thoughts again and I didn't attempt to interrupt; I just continued my quest - making a grilled cheese sandwich.

-

The following school day passed rather unremarkably other than the appearance of the hidden sun and a conspicuously absent vampire family.

Alice and I arrived together, did what we usually did, and then separated for our individual _activities_ for the evening.

"Bloody Mary, Bella!" Alice exclaimed as the school bell rang for the end of class and I moodily trudged towards the truck. "Your not going to get your fingernails ripped out with tweezers, it's just a shopping trip! It's what _normal_ teenage girls look forward to!"

I shot her a withering glare and muttered under my breath, "I'd rather look at suspicious dead bodies."

Alice rolled her eyes and ignored me as I continued to mutter to myself about the overall unfairness of the world.

"Do you honestly think I'm looking forward to this?" she demanded when I persisted with my childish grumblings. "Do you really think I wouldn't prefer to go out with you?"

That shut me up.

The drive home was tense and silent, but before I exited the cab I gave Alice's shoulder a comforting squeeze. Jessica had followed me home in her car so all I had to do was grab my wallet and bag before driving off with Jessica to Angela's house and letting the torture commence.

'Stay _calm, and don't worry Bella. Nothing can hurt you tonight; you're going to be fine. Stay calm…'_ I continued my mental pep talk, convincing myself that nothing was going to go wrong.

Famous last words.

* * *

~ Alice ~

"What's _she _doing here Chief?"

"She's with me, Cowden. My daughter has an interest in Police investigation, there's no harm, she won't touch anything, Alice is just here to observe."

I grimaced as Charlie and Cowden discussed my presence like I wasn't there. 'Interest in Police Investigation…' I snorted quietly to myself as I wove my way through the Police tape and bagged evidence; that was the excuse we always used. In actual fact, I had no intention whatsoever of working with the Police in the future. No, thank you.

Sighing, as I reached the place of the murder I observed my surroundings. It was where the metallic building mingled with the shoreline of the nearby lake and an enclosure of trees, a few of which were splintered and bent at odd and unnatural angles.

We were right, no animal did this.

Closing my eyes, I opened my consciousness and 'reached' out, looking for something, anything to give me a clue. I hated doing things like this; I never knew what to do. I see the _future_, damn it! Centring myself once more, I focussed harder…

It was blurry, like looking through an unfocussed camera – or a motion one.

I felt the frown creasing my forehead as I concentrated. Closer, the image was closer, clearer… Red eyes!

"Doctor Cullen!"

My eyes snapped open and the image slipped; I was back in the present, and listening as Charlie greeted the new arrivals. I turned around only to find Carlisle Cullen and Jasper Hale's golden eyes boring into my own.

Charlie continued to speak to Doctor Cullen, but I heard none of it; Jasper and I were still eye-locked, and everything around me fizzled into silence. Jasper had an odd expression on his face; it was… torn.

Before the two of us could actually enter into a conversation, I felt Charlie's hand on my shoulder and he turned me towards him, lowering his head so he could whisper in my ear, obviously done speaking to Doctor Cullen.

"What did you find?" He asked, glancing around to make sure no one was listening.

I already knew two pairs of ears were perked; I didn't need to see the tawny eyes flick in my direction.

"Nothing," I murmured back. "I told you, I see the _future_." I smiled apologetically, "I'm sorry, Charlie. But I don't think I can help you." Charlie sighed, nodded and drifted off to speak to the rest of the force to continue the search.

I felt a little guilty for lying to Charlie, even if it was a lie by omission, but the pair of red eyes I had a brief chance to see definitely were not human – and if they belonged to what I thought they did, Charlie wouldn't be able to stop them; he'd get killed trying. I groaned wearily and rubbed my eyes, before glancing around and catching the eye of Jasper who was watching me with concern shining clear in his eyes. I smiled and shook my head before beginning to move towards him.

After a few steps in his direction Jasper's posture suddenly stiffened, his head whipped up and he glared over my left shoulder.

Confused, I was about to look over said shoulder when I felt an ice cold hand clamp down on it. Jasper's face twisted into a fearsome snarl and he appeared to be readying himself for a launch when a familiar voice I hadn't heard in six years spoke from somewhere behind me.

"Hello again, Alice."

I whirled around to see the smiling and heartbreakingly beautiful face of the first vampire I ever met; "Nicholas!?"

At his nod, I launched myself at him, wrapping my arms around his neck and squealing like the eleven year old girl I was when I last saw him. His musical laugh sounded in my ears as he reciprocated the hug, and twirled me round in a graceful circle before placing me carefully back on the ground.

When I realised what I had done – and to a bloodthirsty vampire no less! – I pulled back with a sheepish expression, only to find a beaming expression on his face and laughter lighting his eyes as gazed down at me.

"Excited to see me?" he chuckled, and I blushed a little embarrassed.

"Well, it _has_ been six years!" I defended myself, scowling playfully. "What are you doing here? Not that I'm not glad to see you!" I added hastily as his smile dimmed a little.

"Uh," he rubbed the back of his head self-consciously as he glanced around at the nearby surroundings. "I actually came to make sure you're okay - and to warn you." He added the last part on quietly, but I still heard.

I frowned. "What do you mean?" flashes of the pair of red eyes began to play out in my mind's eye, and I watched my old companion warily as he shifted uncomfortably. "Nicholas… does it have anything to do with the pair of red eyes I'm seeing?"

Nicholas's breath caught as he stared out into the nearby forest, before he let out a slow breath through his nose, faced me and nodded reluctantly, "Probably. He's not very happy we got away…" he murmured. My eyes widened at his words, but before I could question him further a startled shout caught my attention and I saw Charlie, accompanied by Doctor Cullen and Jasper hurrying in my direction.

"Alice! Are you okay? Who's this?" Charlie rapidly questioned as he came into earshot.

"I'm fine," I answered confusedly. "This is Nicholas, he save-"

I cut myself off, my eyes flickering to the two listening vampires. "He brought me to Bella." I said instead.

Charlie understood immediately, and warmed up considerably to the newcomer, offering his hand as he introduced himself. "I'm Charlie Swan."

"Nicholas. Pleasure to meet you, Chief," Nicholas replied, taking the proffered hand and shaking it firmly. Charlie winced; I shot Nick a warning glance and in return got a surprised raise of his eyebrows. I'd forgotten that he didn't know that I knew he was a vampire – it was my turn to wince as I avoided his curious gaze.

Instead my eyes fell upon the two Cullen's who were watching the whole interaction with tense postures, curious and suspicious expressions. Jasper was glaring at Nicholas with barely contained… Jealousy? I felt my own eyebrows rise in surprise as if I was honest, a little satisfaction.

Jasper was jealous over me.

I could have squealed again; but I resisted.

I was about to enter the conversation around me when suddenly, I froze.

"Alice?" I heard Jasper's worried voice ask, but I was too far gone.

My face went blank and my eyes glazed over – I was having a vision in the presence of three vampires and my adoptive father; Crap.

"Alice!?" Charlie grabbed my shoulders and turned me towards him – but I could no longer see him.

Instead, I saw a damp, darkened and gloomy alleyway; it was surrounded by metal crates and peeling papers. I heard jeering and raucous laughter; a group of young men who looked in their early twenties were circling a petite girl with long dark hair. They were leering and advancing slowly towards her, suggestively. There was a roaring in my ears as the closest man grabbed her arm and forced her closer to him, giving me a better look at the girl; her pale heart-shaped face was pinched in pain, fear and set in determination, her dark doe like eyes were glaring in defiance and burning with rage. She looked extremely familiar…

"NO, BELLA!"

My vision went completely black – I couldn't see anything at all; I couldn't see anything at all of what was happening to my sister.

I was wrenched back to the present with a start, staring wildly into the suddenly bloodless face of Charlie and the concerned faces of the three vampires. I was trying to figure out who was screaming, when I realised that it was me.

"Alice! What's happening? Where's Bella? What's wrong?" Charlie had me in a death grip and was shaking me sharply as tears rolled down my cheeks, but I couldn't answer. I used all my strength to pull free of Charlie's grip, and ran as fast as I could towards the red truck, my vision blurring and sobs tearing from my throat.

"BELLA!"

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_yes? i do like feedback :)_

VV


	16. Night of the Hunter

**A/N: Thank you all for your patience, i know it has been a few weeks (months?) Exams are a beast. I really appreciate the reviews you've given and i'm glad you're enjoying it so far!**

**Just a little heads'up** - The end of the chapter is a little dark (understandable i think, given the circumstances) do tell me if you liked or disliked it, thanks :)

**disclaimer:** i own nothing.

_Onwards and upwards!_

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Chapter 16 - Night of the Hunter

**~ Bella ~**

_Sigh._

It had been two hours, two hours since I'd left the house and I was about ready to take the nearest hanger from the dress rack and choke myself with it.

I surreptitiously checked my watch again; two hours and ten minutes.

"I want to go home," I mumbled piteously to myself.

"What was that?" Jessica asked as she sauntered out of the dressing room, wearing a pretty ocean blue prom dress than enhanced her already well endowed bust area. I resisted the urge to cross my arms as I answered.

"I said I like that one."

"You think?" She questioned as she twirled in front of the mirror.

"Definitely." _'Please buy the damn dress and let me leave!'_

Jessica nodded in absent agreement as she continued to twirl; meanwhile, Angela walked out of her dressing room wearing a floor length dress of soft pink which fitted her tall and slim frame rather well.

"That one looks really great on you," I complimented, giving her a genuine smile; I liked Angela.

"Thank you, I think I'll buy it, it's my favourite so far," She replied, smiling shyly in return.

I thought I was going to be released after that, but it turns out that Jessica wanted jewellery to go with her dress despite actually saying herself she already had some at home which would 'go perfectly' with her outfit. Angela was browsing the shoes but she seemed content with what she already had, and I knew she'd never actually tell Jessica to get a move on – she's too nice for that. Party-pooping was my forte.

"Do you mind if I meet you guys at the restaurant?" I asked instead, wanting a way out, but deciding not to be rude about it. "Is there a bookstore nearby? I can browse while you finish…" I trailed off, not really caring if I looked insultingly hopeful.

"Sure," they said together, Angela smiling in understanding, and Jessica not really caring either way. _'Sweet.'  
_

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_

Ten minutes later, armed with directions the girls were so gracious to give me, I was inhaling the crisp early evening air of Port Angelus and meandering towards the nearest bookstore.

"Aah, freedom!" I sighed blissfully, lifting my arms either side of my body and spinning round in a circle like a child, probably looking like a complete weirdo in the process. Ah well, we all have our ups and downs.

As I was approaching the bookstore however, it quickly became clear that it was not the sort of store that would sell the likes of Bronte and Austen… Nevertheless, I entered if not only to sate my curiosity; it seemed interesting – the type of store you'd find the 'Charmed Ones' browsing.

I needed to get out more.

I entered the store and was greeted by a rather eccentric looking woman; she was roughly sixty years old with a kind face and clothed quite mystically – all airy shawls and glittering beads with crystals of varying colours littering the counter she occupied.

"Welcome!" She smiled, sparkling like the sea at sunset.

"Hi," I replied, trying not to laugh at the sweet looking woman.

The mystic-woman let me browse after that, keeping silent and continuing on with whatever she was doing. There were actually some seriously useful books among the witchcraft and spirituality books scattered around the dusty little store, and I decided to buy one of the books on Yoga.

Alice, Rene and I had gone to Yoga classes back in Phoenix when Rene had one of her flights of fancies, and that time it had been the unusual arts. I had surprisingly enjoyed myself and would have continued with Alice even when my mom had decided it wasn't for her (surprise, surprise), but the class had grown bigger and the room too crowded, so when one had the power to kill with a single touch the class didn't seem like such a good idea anymore. Alice stopped going when I did out of principle, but I knew she missed it. The book I'd found ensured that we could continue our lessons from the comfort, (and safety) of our own home.

* * *

After paying for the book and noticing nothing else grabbing my attention, I exited the store onto the lit street outside.

Despite the store I'd just exited, I really wanted to visit a normal bookstore so I continued down the street I was heading earlier, believing it to be the way to the busier part of town.

However, after passing the sixth industrial styled building shaped suspiciously like a factory storage facility, I admitted the truth I had previously been denying – I was completely lost.

I sighed in annoyance, blowing a lungful of air heavily through pursed lips and watched the icy mist form in front of my face. Rolling my eyes, I prepared to turn back the way I had walked when the hairs on the back on my neck promptly stood to attention. I then realised that I had acquired two followers while I walked oblivious, lost in my thoughts. On closer inspection, while pretending to check my purse, I confirmed them both as male. This was great, just great.

I growled in agitation and sped up my pace; my followers copied my actions. They were whispering excitedly, glancing from me to each other.

And they were gaining on me.

I bared my teeth unconsciously as memories, unbidden, attempted to overwhelm me…

_…School lockers, and a bang as the sound of a body was slammed into the metal, rattling the frames and leaving small dents… an awfully familiar whimper as she frantically attempted to distance herself from…_

I clenched my eyes shut, gritting my teeth and shaking my head clear; I need to focus. They might not be what I thought they were…

Oh, who was I kidding? Of course they were!

I was power-walking now, moving as fast as I could without actually breaking into a run; that would only set them off – and satisfy the sick bastards.

'_Just a bit further…'_ The corner was just a few feet away and I thought that if I could just reach it, I would make it back to civilisation in no time.

My followers slowed down as I neared the corner, watching with unfathomable expressions – I almost sighed with relief.

…Until I strode around the corner and abruptly skidded to a halt.

What waited for me on the other side wasn't civilisation, it was three other men.

I wasn't being followed.

I was being herded.

'_Oh, woe betides the fates above!'_

"There you are!"

I flinched as one of the men yelled in greeting behind me. Turning my head slightly, I saw the two from before who had finally caught up. They didn't look older than twenty-five.

"Yeah, where've you been?" One of the guys called in front of me, he appeared to be the ring-leader, stood in the centre of the group and leaning casually against a building wall.

He hadn't taken his eyes off me even as he spoke. I resisted the urge to shiver in revulsion,

"We have company."

This time I couldn't stop the shiver shooting up my spine; the men laughed raucously, and the leader shrugged off the wall and began to saunter towards where I stood.

"Stay the hell away from me," I warned my voice low and strong to the slight surprise of my companions.

"Aw, sugar, don't be like that!" he grinned. "We're gonna have lots of fun."

While his cronies laughed appreciatively, I pretended to wring my hands in fear and worry.

They looked a little surprised, and some a little unnerved, by my lack of fear, but the stupid little fools couldn't understand what their basic instincts were telling them as I subtly removed my long gloves with slow precision, _'why do they need to be so tight!'  
_

It wouldn't be long until they did understand – and then they'd wish they never had.

As they closed the distance separating us, they began to circle me much like a predator would circle its prey, playing and toying with it while is shook and squealed in fear.

The sick bastards.

"I'm warning you," I said as I began to back away slowly; If possible, I wanted to avoid bloodshed, but if they touched me nothing would prevent me from going feral on their ass.

They ignored the warning, as I knew they would, and continued to advance. Somewhere, I could hear the distant squealing of car tyres and could feel the frantic vibrating of the phone wedged in my jean pocket – but all that was faint and distant, because I was losing control and if I didn't get out now I was going to kill every one of them.

My breath was coming out in short gasps; I realised that I was panting, and the revolting apes in front of me thought it was finally out of fear. And as they laughed in their twisted, disgusting amusement – I finally snapped.

I knew my pupils where expanding, so slow no one would ever notice if they didn't know what to look for, especially as my irises are so dark already. I knew that my skin was slowly turning paler than it already was – one would assume it was out of fear, and these idiots certainly thought so, for they were blatantly ignoring the warning signals that should have been screaming in their heads, already foreseeing what their conscious minds could not process.

In a matter of moments I was going to be terrifying.

"Before you start given me the good old 'one-two' and showing me who's boss," I began in a low, mocking voice. "I have two questions; have you done this before, and did you enjoy it?" I spoke with my head bowed, keeping my eyes on the floor.

They faltered to a stop as they paused to answer my questions, mere metres in front of me. There was a moment of silence where I assumed they had glanced at each other before the leader decided to speak for all of them.

"Yes."

There was no remorse, and there was no objection from the others gathered.

It was all I needed.

"Well then," I murmured, my voice was clear and carrying in our close proximity. I lifted my head and gazed into his confused eyes, "I needn't feel any pity for your worthless souls."

I bared my teeth in an awful smile as his face drained of colour and his pupils dilated in terror.

I lunged quick as a cat, trapping his face in within my deathly grasp; and I watched as his life force drained from his pallid face, from his very soul, leaving nothing but an empty, broken and gaunt shell which promptly crumbled into dust, blowing softly in the gentle evening breeze.

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VV


	17. Sorry

**Not an update, sorry.**

**I know it's been over two years, and it's very annoying that I haven't updated in that time – for you and for me – and I thank you all for your patience.**

**It's been a very trying two years; death in the family, and a lengthy illness for me, the details of which I shan't bore you with or go into.**

**All of the above naturally made it difficult for me to write and post but I'll be honest, I could have persevered if I wanted to. I didn't because I was in a very dark place and would have ruined the story if I had. This is the first story I've ever written and I wanted to do it justice, but I find it difficult to muster up enough enthusiasm and interest in it anymore. It's still there, but it doesn't feel right or enough at the moment.**

**I'm not really involved in the Twilight fandom anymore; I've gone back to my roots in Harry Potter and have branched out into other Anime and TV shows like Bleach, Doctor Who and Sherlock, so I'm probably going to be writing stories for those fandoms too.**

**There is a large chance I will come back to this, and it is for that reason that I am labelling this fic as on Hiatus rather than as Abandoned. I won't leave it unfinished and I will come back to it; it's my first ever story, riddled with mistakes that make me cringe, and by no means perfect, but it's mine, which is why it's not up for adoption. I will come back to it, just not right now.**

**Thank you again for your patience and for reading my story; I'm sorry this isn't the update you were hoping for, but I hope you stick around for the time where it is.**

**~ SeasonsInReverse**


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